Tunisian President Kais Syed, who has a monopoly on power in the country, has strengthened his judicial powers by amending the law on the Supreme Judicial Council, according to which he dismissed about sixty judges.
On Wednesday evening, Thursday evening, the Official Gazette published a list of 57 judges who were fired on charges including “covering up terrorist cases”, “corruption”, “sexual harassment”, “loyalty to political parties” and “undermining the course of affairs” and they will be held accountable, according to a statement confirmed at the ministerial meeting. Among the dismissed judges are a former spokesman for the Judicial Anti-Terrorism Pole, a former director general of customs, a former head of the Supreme Judicial Council, and other judges who have previously been accused of being close to powerful political parties. The ruling also concerns judges who oversaw a so-called “secret service” case linked to an investigation into the political assassinations of two politicians in 2013. Said amended the Law on the Provisional Supreme Judicial Council to be able to make a decision.
The text of the amendment stated that the President of the Republic “has the right, in the event of ensuring public safety or a threat to the supreme interests of the country and on the basis of a reasoned message from the authorized bodies, to issue a presidential decree on the dismissal of all judges involved in anything that affects the reputation of the judiciary, its the independence or quality of the judiciary”. Biography”.
Dismissed judges can also be prosecuted.
Last February, Said dissolved the Supreme Judicial Council, an independent constitutional body created in 2016 to guarantee the independence of the country’s judiciary. In addition, amendments were made to the Law on Elections and Referendums. Said accuses the members of the dissolved Supreme Judicial Council of corruption and acting in accordance with political opinions.
Saeed issued rulings on July 25, 2021 whereby he monopolized power by suspending parliament and dismissing the government, and has been exercising power ever since by issuing decrees and suspending parts of the 2014 constitution that he promised to amend.
The National Salvation Front, a bloc of anti-Said political parties and civil society organizations, confirmed in a statement Thursday that the president’s actions were “gross interference” with the judiciary. She accused Said of giving himself “the right to dismiss judges on the basis of mere suspicion, without the right to object before the criminal court makes its final decision.”
In turn, the general secretary of the opposition Democratic Current Party, Ghazi al-Shawashi, at a press conference on Thursday, considered the decision to dismiss him “a settling of scores with the judges.” The Tunisian president approved a political roadmap that began with electronic consultations and then a popular referendum on the 2014 constitution scheduled for next July 25, which led to legislative elections later this year.
The President of Tunisia wants to change the country’s political system from a changed parliament to a presidential one. Severe criticism was directed at Said’s decisions and the path he chose, whether from the Al-Nahda party, which is of Islamic origin, had the largest parliamentary blocs and considered the president’s actions as a “coup against the constitution and revolution.” or from the many local and international NGOs that warned of “authoritarian deviation” in Tunisia, where the revolution took place that toppled the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.
