Tunisia - Former Security Officials Are Sentenced - NYTimes.com A court sentenced the former interior minister and seven security chiefs to up to 15 years in jail on Wednesday over the killing of hundreds of protesters in the central towns where the Arab Spring began. Former Interior Minister Rafik Belhaj Kacem, sentenced to 12 years, and the security chiefs are the first senior officials to be convicted in the deaths of over 300 people in last year's revolution.