clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Tunisia judiciary slams Saied over judicial council dissolution

February 11, 2022 at 2:41 pm

Judges, lawyers and people gather to protest President of Tunisia, Kais Saied’s decision to dissolve the Supreme Judicial Council in Tunis, Tunisia on 10 February 2022 [Yassine Gaidi/Anadolu Agency]

Tunisian Supreme Judicial Council yesterday said that it was the “only legitimate institution representing the country’s judicial authority,” stressing that the establishment of any alternative body would be “null and has no legal effect.”

The council’s statement comes in response to President Kais Saied’s recent order to dissolve  the council and replace it with a temporary one.

The statement pointed out that the council was established “under the Tunisian constitution,” criticising  what it described as the “constitutional structure of the judiciary through presidential decrees outside the framework of legitimacy.”

Many of Tunisia’s judges have already announced their rejection of Saied’s decision to dissolve the Supreme Judicial Council. They vowed not to remain silent over what they describe as a dangerous assault on a major state institution.

Ennahda: Rashid Ghannouchi’s life is under threat