TUNIS — Thousands of
Tunisians protested on
Sunday after President Kais Saied gave himself sweeping powers over the
judiciary, his latest step in what opponents say is a slide towards autocracy.
اضافة اعلان
A decree
published in the early hours officially replaced a judicial watchdog he had
vowed to dissolve, and gave him powers to block judicial appointments, sack
judges, and ban them from going on strike.
Hours later, more than 2,000 protesters gathered in
central Tunis, many waving large Tunisian flags and chanting slogans against
the president.
“The people want
what you don’t want,” went one chant, echoing a slogan of the country’s revolt
against the regime of dictator
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali over a decade ago: “The
people want the regime to fall.”
Some protesters carried signs reading “save our
democracy!” and “don’t touch the judiciary!”
Saied’s decree came a week after he said he would
dissolve the High Judicial Council (CSM), prompting a nationwide strike by
judges saying the move would infringe on their independence.
Sunday’s ruling establishes a new “Temporary Supreme
Judicial Council” with 21 members, who must swear “by God almighty to preserve
the independence of the judiciary”. Nine are directly appointed by the
president.
The rest, all judges, are indirectly under his
control in view of his new powers to dismiss “any judge failing to do his
professional duties”.
Moreover, the decree forbids “judges of all ranks to
go on strike or hold any organized collective action that could disturb or
delay the normal working of the courts”.
‘He’s on his own’
Saied last July sacked the
government,
suspended parliament, and seized a range of powers before moving to
rule by decree, sparking fears for what had been seen as the only democracy to
emerge from the Arab Spring uprisings.
His moves had initially been welcomed by many
Tunisians tired of political parties seen as corrupt and self-serving, but his
critics accuse him of moving the country back towards autocracy.
Ezzeddine Hazgui of the “Citizens Against the Coup”
movement pointed to the size of the demonstration and said resistance to the
president was growing.
“On July 25, (Saied) had lots of people behind him,
now he’s on his own,” he said.
Saied, who has put battling corruption at the center
of his agenda, has insisted he has no intention of interfering with the
judiciary, but rights groups and world powers have criticized his move.
Said Benarbia, the regional director of the
International Commission of Jurists, told AFP that the decree “enshrines the
subordination of the judiciary to the executive”.
“If implemented, it would effectively end judicial
independence and the separation of powers in Tunisia, and, with it, the
democratic experiment in the country,” he said.
“It gives the president wide-ranging powers to
manage the careers of judges, in particular, to suspend or remove them. This
violates the most basic principles of the rule of law, the separation of powers
and judicial independence.”
‘No legal basis’
The CSM, established in
2016, used to have the final say over judicial appointments.
It has firmly
rejected decrees that “infringe on the constitutional structure of the
judiciary” and said any alternative would have “no legal basis”.
Saied had long accused the CSM of blocking
politically sensitive investigations and being influenced by his nemesis, the
Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party.
Ennahdha supporters were among the protesters in
Tunis on Sunday, some carrying placards demanding the release of former justice
minister Noureddine Bhiri and former interior ministry official
Fathi Baldi.
Both were arrested by plainclothes police officers
on December 31 and later accused of possible “terrorism” offenses, and have
been held largely incommunicado, according to rights groups.
The 63-year-old Bhiri, who suffers from diabetes, high blood
pressure, and a heart condition, has been on a hunger strike since he was
detained and was hospitalized shortly after his arrest.
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