The Tunisian president, Kais Saied, sacked the judges on 1 June, accusing them of corruption and protecting terrorists which was contested by various judges’ unions. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Judges in Tunisia have extended their strike into a fourth week to protest the sacking of 57 colleagues by President Kais Saied.
The Court of Judicial Structures said in their statement the move was taken after the Presidency and the Justice Ministry refused to respond to their demands.
“The strike will include all courts, administrative, financial and judicial institutions as of Monday,” it said.
The Tunisian president sacked the judges on 1 June, accusing them of corruption and protecting terrorists which was contested by various judges’ unions.
The accusations were strongly rejected and labelled by judges as mostly politically motivated, and a nationwide strike was launched on 6 June.
Almost 99 per cent of Tunisian judges have decided to strike, as reported by the Association of Tunisian Magistrates.
The president of the association, Anas Hamadi, has stated the strike will continue until judges are reinstated despite salaries being cut since the beginning of the strike.
Saied seized all executive powers last summer which was widely seen as a constitutional coup. He subsequently discarded the 2014 constitution to rule by decree and dismissed the elected parliament.
He says he does not intend to control the judiciary and these decisions were necessary to cleanse it of corruption.
In February he dissolved the Supreme Judicial Council which acted as the main guarantor of judicial independence since the country’s 2011 revolution.
Shortly after, Saied issued a decree that established a new provisional judicial council, giving himself additional powers to control the top judicial organisation in the country.
Saied intends to put the new constitution to a referendum on 25 July, however Tunisia’s powerful UGTT labour union has refused to take part in talks on a new constitution and the main political parties have said they will boycott the referendum.
