TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisian police have locked the doorways of the Supreme Judicial Council, its head advised Reuters on Monday, a day after President Kais Saied dissolved it, and have stopped employees from coming into the constructing.
Saied’s announcement has raised fears for the rule of regulation in Tunisia after his seizure of just about whole energy final summer season in a transfer his critics have branded a coup, with judges’ associations accusing him of an unlawful act that undermines judicial independence.
“The president has moved to the stage of seizing establishments. What is going on may be very harmful and unlawful,” mentioned council head Youssef Bouzakher.
Saied has been consolidating his powers since final summer season when he suspended parliament, dismissed the prime minister and mentioned he might rule by decree, and he has grown more and more vital of the judiciary.
A constitutional regulation professor earlier than he ran for president in 2019, and the husband of a choose, Saied has accused Tunisia’s judicial hierarchy of being corrupt and serving the pursuits of political factions.
He has not launched into a widescale marketing campaign of arrests or tried to close down debate inside Tunisia since final yr, and has promised to uphold rights and freedoms gained within the 2011 revolution that introduced democracy.
However, safety forces have pursued some politicians and enterprise leaders on numerous costs and have pushed lots of the circumstances by the army moderately than civilian courts, elevating considerations amongst rights teams.
Saied has mentioned he’ll rewrite the structure and put it to a referendum this summer season however main political events and civil society teams say any modifications he makes must be based mostly on dialogue.
Tunisia faces a looming disaster in public funds and a dire financial system that threaten to hit residing requirements over the approaching months, posing a serious problem to any efforts to enact vital reforms.
(Reporting by Tarek Amara, writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Toby Chopra and Alex Richardson)