Tunisian president’s move ‘counter-revolution’: Yemeni Nobel laureate

By Aziz Ahmadi

ISTANBUL (AA) – Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkol Karman on Monday accused Tunisian President Kais Saied of betraying his voters, labelling his decision to dismiss the government as a “counter-revolution”.

On Sunday, Saied dismissed the government of Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, froze parliament and assumed the executive authority with the assistance of a new prime minister.

“Kais Saied is just a coup plotter who betrayed his voters,” Karman said in a tweet.

“What happened in Tunisia is just a counter-revolution that joins the group of counter-revolutions made by Riyadh and Abu Dhabi to overthrow the Arab Spring revolutions,” she said.

Saied said Sunday he has decided to suspend the immunity of all members of parliament and take control of the general prosecutor’s office.

The Tunisian president claimed that his decisions were taken after consulting Mechichi and Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi.

Ghannouchi, for his part, described Saied's moves as nothing but a "full-fledged coup" against the Tunisian constitution, revolution, and freedoms in the country.

Tunisia has been gripped by a deep crisis since Jan. 16, when Mechichi announced a cabinet reshuffle but Saied refused to hold a ceremony to swear in the new ministers. Tunisia also faces an unprecedented spread of the COVID-19 strains in most states, causing a rapid spread of the virus.

Tunisia is seen as the only Arab country that succeeded in carrying out a democratic transition among other Arab countries that also witnessed popular revolutions that toppled the ruling regimes, including Egypt, Libya, and Yemen.

*Bassel Barakat contributed to this report from Ankara