![Tunisian flag is raised up to the highest flagpole on the 61st anniversary of Tunisia's independence during a ceremony at Belvedere Park in Tunis, Tunisia on 20 March, 2017 [Amine Landoulsi/Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/20170320_2_22521226_20086726.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Dozens of law professors in Tunisia refused, on Monday, to appoint the deans of law faculties to the consultative commission charged with drafting a new constitution for the country.
This came in a statement signed by 76 former law professors and deans of law faculties in the country, a copy of which Anadolu Agency reviewed.
On Friday, a presidential decree was published in Tunisia’s Official Gazette to form a “National Consultative Commission for the New Republic”, besides two consultative committees and another for “National Dialogue”.
Article No. 12 of the decree stipulates: “The Legal Consultative Committee is composed of the deans of the faculties of law and the political and judicial sciences in the Republic of Tunisia, it shall be is headed by the eldest of the deans that are appointed by a presidential order.”
READ: Tunisia warned of ‘manipulation’ of citizens’ personal data
The statement stipulated: “After the promulgation of the decree (…) relating to the establishment of the National Consultative Commission, the university professors of the faculties of law and legal sciences denounce this unjust method of appointing the members of the commission without any extended and real national consultation and dialogue.”
The statement denounced what it described as “vain dealing with the academic scientific institutions”, and criticised the “engagement of male and female university students in these political projects, which may add false and misleading legitimacy to these projects.”
“The male and female deans of the universities of law and legal sciences are among the professors who were elected according to their academic value to manage the scientific affairs within the faculties, not to involve them in participating in the political activities,” the statement added.
The statement called on the “male and female deans not to accept joining this commission, in addition, to unify their position to reject such deception against the scientific institutions and involving universities in political projects.”
The Tunisian authorities did not immediately comment on the statement; however, they usually deny these accusations and affirm their commitment to dialogue with all parties “who are keen on the interest of the country.”
Since 25 July, Tunisia has witnessed a political crisis when President Kais Saied imposed exceptional measures including suspending the parliament, issuing legislation by presidential decrees, dismissing the government, and appointing a new one.
Several political and civil forces in Tunisia reject these measures, and consider them as a “coup against the Constitution”, while other forces support them and see them as a “correction of the course of the 2011 revolution”, which toppled the former President, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.
