The Tunisian head of state had dissolved the Superior Council of the Judiciary a week ago, provoking indignation. He replaced it on Sunday with another “temporary” body.
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The decision raises fears for democracy. Tunisian President Kais Saied replaced, on Sunday February 13, the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM), which he dissolved a week ago, with another body “temporary”. The Head of State has also given himself the power to dismiss judges and forbid them to go on strike. A few hours after the publication of this decision, more than 2,000 demonstrators gathered in the center of Tunis to protest against the new measures and to express their fears about the independence of the judicial system.
After suspending the elected parliament and dismissing the government in July, President Saied on February 5 dissolved the CSM, an independent body created in 2016 to appoint judges, whom he accuses of “partiality” and to be under the influence of the Islamo-conservative Ennahdha party, his pet peeve. The head of state suffered a flood of criticism in his country, but also from Westerners after this decision, seen as a democratic setback in the cradle of the Arab Spring.
This new decree “consolidates powers in the hands of the president and ends a semblance of judicial independence”the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said in a statement on Sunday. “It recalls the dark days of Tunisia, when judges were removed from office at the whim of the executive”added the Geneva-based NGO.