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Rabat – Tunisian President Kais Saied dissolved the nation’s Supreme Judicial Council on Sunday, a move that was condemned by the nation’s top judge.
Saied justified his decision by accusing the Council, which is responsible for overseeing judicial independence, of bias, corruption, and inappropriate investigation delays.
“This council has become one where positions are sold and appointed because of personal affiliations,” Saied said in a video announcement, “this is no judiciary.”
“We will work on implementing a temporary guideline for the Supreme Council,” he detailed. “This council should consider itself a thing of the past from now on.”
President Saied accused the council of delaying investigations into the death of activists in 2013.
Critics, including the Head of the Council Youssef Bouzakher, have in turn accused the President of illegally undermining the judiciary’s independence.
“The president’s decision is illegal and a direct assimilation of the presidency,” Bouzakher told Reuters, warning the president that “judges will not remain silent.”
Political parties and unions have voiced intentions to stage protests against the decision on Sunday, fearing that it will undermine the judiciary’s independence.
In response, Saied said the people have the right to protest “within the law’s bounds.”
This move is the latest in a string of actions that have sparked popular anger and prompted critics to cast President Saied as a dictator who wants to have absolute control on other institutions.
Last July, the president dismissed the Tunisian government and granted himself broad powers, in a decision that many saw as undermining the country’s democratic progress.
Opponents have described the President’s refusal to engage in dialogue as a coup against Tunisia’s once promising but increasingly fragile democratic process.
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