Tunisian judges have launched a week-long strike in protest at President Kais Saied’s “interference” in the judiciary, days after he sacked 57 of their colleagues, accusing them of corruption and protecting “terrorists.” The strike, which began on Monday, is the latest in a series of escalating moves by Tunisia’s politicians, institutions, and civil society as the country’s political crisis deepens. Saied, who dismissed the country’s elected parliament and seized executive power last July, issued a new decree extending his rule over the judiciary after he said he had “given opportunity after opportunity and warning after warning to the judiciary to purify itself” in a televised address.
The latest move against the only democratic system to emerge from the Arab Spring uprisings has raised concerns among judges and other civil society groups, resulting in four judges’ unions announcing a nationwide court strike to strongly condemn the president’s “continued interference in the judiciary.” In February, Tunisia’s president dissolved the Supreme Judicial Council that deals with the independence of judges. The council had acted as the main guarantor of judicial independence since Tunisia’s 2011 revolution and the move spurred accusations that Saied was interfering in the judicial process.
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