Tunisia: Anti-corruption authority staff launch protests

The employees of the Tunisian Anti-Corruption Authority (INLUCC) have announced that they started an open sit-in and threatened to carry out a hunger strike next week at the headquarters of the organisation to demand the suspension imposed on the body be lifted and for them to receive their financial dues.

In a speech the INLUCC employee spokeswoman, Hanan Al-Madaghi, said: “The suspension of the INLUCC’s activity caused harm to its employees because they did not receive their financial dues. Those who report corruption were also affected because they remained without protection since the suspension of the INLUCC’s work.”

On 20 August 2021, President Kais Saied issued a presidential order dismissing Anwar Bin Hassan, the secretary-general of the INLUCC, from his post. On the same day, Said ordered acting Interior Minister, Ridha Gharsallaoui, to evacuate the INLUCC’s headquarters.

Tunisia has been experiencing a political crisis since Saied imposed exceptional measures on 25 July 2021, which were rejected by the majority of political and civil forces in the country.

Saied’s most important measures included dissolving the Supreme Judicial Council and Parliament, issuing legislation by presidential decrees, approving a new constitution through a referendum in July 2022, and holding early legislative elections last December.

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