Tunisians rejoiced when a revolt forced Zine el Abidine Ben Ali from power, so when a TV station aired a well-wishing message to the ousted strongman at the weekend, it brought back unwanted memories for some.

"Ay yay yay, my ears hurt", wrote one blogger on Facebook after the public Watanya 1 broadcast the recording, which the official TAP news agency said featured a singer, Fawzi Ben Gamra, praying for "the success" of Ben Ali.

Such messages were common during his 24-year oligarchy, but now Ben Ali is in exile and Tunisian courts have sentenced him to 66 years in prison, with more than 100 cases pending.

Tunisia's ETT television authority said in a statement that the responsible officials at Watanya 1 "would be brought before a disciplinary committee", to answer for the Saturday evening broadcast.

"For the moment, we don't know whether the airing of this prayer was deliberate or not", and ETT official told AFP.

"When will Tunisia be finally cleansed of the partisans of the old regime?" another blogger posted after the broadcast.

Ben Ali fled Tunisia on January 14 and is currently in exile in Saudi Arabia.