TUNIS —
Tunisian police on Monday blocked
access to the country's top judicial watchdog in a move its chief slammed as
"illegal", two days after President Kais Saied dissolved the body.
اضافة اعلان
AFP journalists saw security forces blocking
all roads to the
Supreme Judicial Council (CSM) headquarters in Tunis.
"We don't know who issued these orders
but we know that they have no legal basis," CSM president Youssef
Bouzakher told AFP.
Saied had dissolved the body on Sunday,
months after sacking the government and seizing wide-reaching powers in
Tunisia, often lauded as the only democracy to emerge from the 2011 Arab
revolts.
His supporters say his power grab on July 25
was necessary after a decade of mis-governance by corrupt political parties
following revolt which sparked the Arab Spring uprisings.
But critics say he has pushed the country
down a dangerous route back towards autocracy.
Bouzakher said the closure of the CSM
"proves that we have entered a phase where the executive is using force to
seize control of all state institutions including the judiciary".
Warning of threats to "rights and
liberties", he said the CSM would continue to do its job.
Saied had said Sunday that the CSM was
corrupt and had delayed politically sensitive investigations into the
assassinations of left-wing opposition figures Chokri Belaid and Mohamed
Brahmi.
The CSM said he lacked the legal and
constitutional authority to dissolve it.
The body, created in 2016, consists of 45
magistrates with the power to appoint judges.
Parliament appoints two thirds of its
members who are then responsible for appointing the remainder.
Read more Region and World
.jpg)
.jpg)
