Tunisia: Body overseeing judiciary may soon come to an end

Tunisia’s Supreme Judicial Council may cease to exist if the problems it is facing persist, the body warned in its plenary session.

In a statement, the organisation, which represents judicial power in the country, warned of the severe repercussions that the suspension of its activity would have on the independence of the judiciary.

The organisation is struggling as no one has been appointed to the post of advisor to the Administrative Court and the Ministry of Finance refuses to take the necessary legal measures to enable the council to spend the financial allocations that are authorised in its budget and approved by the Finance Law of 2017.

The statement revealed that the Council has been working without financial resources since 28 April.

In an interview with Quds Press, the Cirector of Al-Thawra News, Mohammed Naem Al-Haj Mansour, claimed that the Supreme Judicial Council is shackled by the decision of the executive authorities that are represented in the presidency.

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Al-Haj Mansour added: “The Tunisian executive authorities want a powerless judicial system, not an effective one. They blather about a Supreme Judicial Council without giving it any chance of working independently.”

The Supreme Judicial Council was first established in Tunisia in July 1967 during the rule of the former President Habib Bourguiba.

Following the 2011 revolution, Tunisia issued a decision to form the Supreme Judicial Council in a way that completely differed from the previous one.