Tunisian opposition leader and human rights Activist who returned from exile in France to take lead of the country after the Arab Spring in 2011.
He studied Medicine in France, and returned to Tunisia to found several human rights organizations, but returned to France after the Tunisian government began persecuting dissidents.
As President of the new country, he sought to balance Islam with liberal democracy, upholding a conviction for 'insulting the sacred,' but condemning another conviction for blasphemy.
He was born in Grombalia, Tunisia.
Like Nelson Mandela he went from a longtime critic of the government to its leader.
