Tunisia’s foreign minister endorses dissolution of judicial council

By Mehmet Akif Turan

TUNIS, Tunisia (AA) – Tunisia’s foreign minister on Tuesday endorsed the dissolution of the country’s Supreme Judicial Council by the president.

The decision to dissolve the judicial council is part of the continuity of the rectification of the democratic process launched by President Kais Saied on July 25, 2021, said Othman Jerandi in a meeting with ambassadors of G-7 countries in Tunisia and the representative of the UN Human Rights Commission.

The decision was made to facilitate the planned judicial reform which eventually aims to create a politics-free, independent judicial structure in the country, he added.

On Sunday, Saied announced plans to dissolve the council, an independent constitutional body whose tasks include ensuring the independence of the judiciary, holding judges accountable, and granting them professional promotions.

The council “has become a thing of the past,” Saied said, accusing it of becoming a place “where positions and appointments are sold according to loyalties.”

Tunisian security forces closed the council’s headquarters Monday and prevented employees from entering it.

Last July, Saied dismissed the government, suspended parliament and assumed executive authority amid mounting public anger over economic stagnation and political paralysis.

While Saied insists that his "exceptional measures" were meant to "save" the country, critics have accused him of orchestrating a coup.

Tunisia has been seen as the only country that succeeded in carrying out a democratic transition among Arab countries which witnessed popular revolutions toppling ruling regimes, including Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

*Writing by Ahmet Gencturk