Democracy dims as Tunisian president attacks judiciary

Tunisian President Kais Saied announced over the weekend he intends to dissolve the country’s top court. The move has met condemnation from the U.N. and human rights groups but more muted opposition domestically, where many see the court as corrupt.

First Look

President Kais Saied’s move to dissolve Tunisia’s top judicial authority has triggered a critical confrontation over rule of law and his own accountability as he slides further toward one-man rule.

Mr. Saied, who suspended parliament and seized executive power last summer in moves his foes called a coup, has for months been attacking the judiciary as part of a corrupt, self-serving elite that disdains ordinary people to protect its own interests.

In a late-night speech this weekend – using his now-familiar refrain that “purifying the judiciary is a priority” – he said he would dissolve the Supreme Judicial Council, the body that upholds judges’ independence, triggering a furious reaction.

​​During that speech, which came on a surprise visit to Tunisia’s Interior Ministry on Saturday night, Mr. Saied blasted members of the judiciary, accusing some judges and magistrates of “corruption … nepotism … and stalling proceedings in several cases, including those of political assassinations.”

“The Superior Council of the Judiciary can from now on consider itself a thing of the past,” the president said, adding that a decree to set up a provisional council will be issued soon.

Judges associations, civil society groups, opposition parties, rights groups, Western donors, and U.N. agencies have all criticized his move, warning it undermines the last vestiges of official accountability for Mr. Saied.

Many judges are also protesting, partially shutting down the justice system on Wednesday and Thursday, planning a street demonstration, and seeking to rally support from civil society groups.

“The judiciary is the only guarantee left in this emergency period in which the president holds executive power before a people who have no power,” said Raoudha Karafi, honorary president of the Judges Association.

Mr. Saied presents himself as a reformer out to end the decade of stagnation since Tunisia’s 2011 revolution that brought democracy by remaking the country’s political system and purging its leadership.

He has promised to uphold rights and freedoms but has moved closer to the security services. Critics say he has pushed for the prosecution of some political opponents over accusations of corruption.

Rights groups fear that dissolving the Supreme Judicial Council, which he announced in a late-night speech at the Interior Ministry, could represent the precursor to a more thorough crackdown on dissent.

“There have been increasing attempts to stifle dissent, including through harassment of civil society actors,” said U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet in a statement on Tuesday.

Opposition

So far, domestic opposition to Mr. Saied has been divided and limp. The biggest political party, the moderate Islamist Ennahda, has made many enemies over the past decade including other groups that also now oppose the president.

Ghazi Chaouachi, the leader of the opposition Democratic Current party, said the president’s attempt to dissolve the judiciary council was part of his “power grab.”

“By getting his hands on the judiciary, after he captured the executive and the legislative branches, his control is almost total,” Mr. Chaouachi said.

The powerful labor union agrees with Mr. Saied that Tunisia needs radical change and that the previous system was not working properly, but it is frustrated that he will not work with it.

It is possible that Mr. Saied’s decision to go after the judiciary may convince more civil society groups to mobilize against him. Supreme Judicial Council head Youssef Bouzakher has warned that judges “will not be silent.”

Mr. Bouzakher said the body remains intact because the president has no power to dissolve it under the Tunisian constitution.

“We continue to carry out our duties and we will defend the judicial council with all means at our disposal,” Mr. Bouzakher said in a statement Sunday.

However, the judiciary is not broadly popular in Tunisia. Many people associate it with the administrative dysfunction of the past decade of democracy and failures to root out corruption or bring to justice those responsible for past abuses.

Abd Enaceur Aouini, a member of a legal committee formed to uncover the truth behind the 2013 assassination of the secular politician Chokri Belaid, says judges have shielded conspirators to the killing for political reasons.

“The Supreme Judicial Council is a beautiful front for selling rotten goods,” he said.

Mr. Saied, too, accused magistrates of mishandling Mr. Belaid’s case during his speech at the Interior Ministry, saying they were “denying Tunisians the right to know the truth.” He called on Tunisians to peacefully protest against judges who have kept “the assassination file in the drawer for years.”

University professor Salah Eddine Daoudi, an activist who supports Mr. Saied, said there was popular support to reform the judiciary. “Talk about dictatorship or the accumulation of power is the speech of those who do not want reform,” he said.

This story was reported by Reuters. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.