Tunisian president cements power over judiciary, opposition organises protest

TUNIS: Tunisia’s president cemented his grip over the judiciary on Sunday with a decree that lets him dismiss judges or block their promotion, helping consolidate his power after he seized executive authority last summer in a move his foes call a coup.

President Kais Saied outraged his opponents and alarmed democratic foreign allies with his announcement last week that he was dissolving the Supreme Judicial Council, a body that guaranteed judicial independence.

Several thousand people took to the streets of the capital Tunis on Sunday to protest against the measures.

“Shut down the coup... take your hands off the judiciary,” some chanted as they gathered in central Tunis.

The protest was organised by the moderate Islamist Ennahda, the biggest party in the suspended parliament that has emerged as Saied’s most vocal opponent, and by a separate civil society organisation.

Saied, a former constitutional lawyer and whose wife is a judge, has accused the council of acting for political interests and has set up a temporary replacement to oversee judges’ work while he prepares broader changes.