Thousands of Tunisians took to the streets on Sunday to protest against a new controversial decision by President Kais Saied, which would allow him to extend his power over the judicial system, a measure perceived as a democratic setback.
In a decree, the president announced that he had replaced the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM), which he dissolved a week ago, with another “temporary” body and gave himself the power to dismiss judges and to forbid them to strike.
A few hours after this announcement, more than 2,000 demonstrators gathered in Tunis in protest and to express their fears.
“The people want what you don’t want,” chanted protesters, referring to the flagship slogan of the 2011 revolution that overthrew the dictatorship of Zine el Abidine Ben Ali.
“Save our democracy! », « Do not touch justice! “, could we read on signs held up by demonstrators.
The decree, establishing a new “Temporary Superior Council of the Judiciary” partly appointed by the president, also gives Mr. Saïed the power to dismiss “any judge who fails in his professional duties”.
Moreover, “it prohibits magistrates of all ranks from striking or taking any organized collective action which could disrupt or delay the normal functioning of the courts”.
” Only “
Since July 25, 2021 Mr. Saïed, supported by the army and the security services, has taken measures to strengthen his power, making his detractors fear a return to authoritarian power.
He first suspended the elected parliament and dismissed the government, then on February 5 dissolved the CSM, an independent body created in 2016 to appoint judges.
The president accused the CSM of “partiality”, of being under the influence of the Islamo-conservative Ennahdha party, his pet peeve, and of having slowed investigations into the 2013 assassinations of two left-wing activists, Chokri Belaid and Mohammad Brahmi.
Mr. Saïed suffered a wave of criticism in his country, but also from Westerners after the dissolution of the CSM.
For Ezzeddine Hazgui, of the Citizens movement against the coup, the protest against the president is gaining momentum.
Mr. Saïed “previously had a lot of support, but now he is alone”, declared Mr. Hazgui, whose movement denounces as a “coup d’etat” the measures taken since July by the president.
The Union of Administrative Judges in Tunisia called the presidential decree a “flagrant violation of the separation of powers”, calling on judges to boycott the “Temporary Superior Council of the Judiciary”.
The new decree “reinforces the subordination of the judiciary to the executive,” said Saïd Benarbia, regional director of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), an NGO based in Geneva.
“End of Democracy”
“If implemented, the decree will mark the end of judicial independence and the separation of powers, thus leading to the end of democracy in Tunisia,” Benarbia added.
“This decree gives broad powers to the president, which would allow him to control the careers of judges, such as suspending or dismissing them. It is a violation of the basic principles of the rule of law,” he said.
Several supporters of Ennahdha took part in the demonstration in Tunis, calling for the release of the former Minister of Justice and number two of the party, Noureddine Bhiri, and of Fethi Baldi, executive officer of this formation of Islamist inspiration.
The two men had been arrested and forcibly taken on January 31 by plainclothes agents to an unknown location. Mr. Bhiri, on hunger strike, was hospitalized the next day in Bizerte (north) after the deterioration of his state of health while the exact place of detention of Mr. Baldi remains secret.
On Wednesday, the organization Human Rights Watch denounced “secret detentions under cover of a state of emergency”, recalling that “no arrest warrant has been issued and that the authorities have not disclosed any formal charges against them “.