5 Dinars 1987 Coup d'état 16th Anniversary, Arabic legend

Tunisia's "coup d'état" coinage is unusual by any standard — few governments mint commemoratives explicitly celebrating a coup, but Ben Ali's administration did exactly that, marking the November 7, 1987 removal of Habib Bourguiba with annual issues. Bourguiba had ruled since independence in 1956; Ben Ali declared him medically unfit and assumed power without bloodshed, a transition Tunisian state media consistently framed as a constitutional correction rather than a seizure.

The Arabic-legend variant of this series was struck alongside a French-legend counterpart, the two issues targeting different collector markets simultaneously.