Tunisian president sacks dozens of judges as he consolidates rule | News | NEWSRUX

Kais Saied, whose opponents accuse him of a ‘coup’, has been ruling by decree since he put aside the 2014 structure.

Tunisia’s president sacked 57 judges on Wednesday, accusing them of corruption and defending “terrorists”, as he seeks to transform the nation’s political system after consolidating one-man rule.

In a televised deal with President Kais Saied mentioned he had “given alternative after alternative and warning after warning to the judiciary to purify itself”. Hours later, the official gazette printed a decree saying the dismissals.

Amongst these sacked was Youssef Bouzaker, the previous head of the Supreme Judicial Council, which Saied dissolved in February.

The council had acted as the principle guarantor of judicial independence since Tunisia’s 2011 revolution and the transfer fuelled accusations that Saied was interfering within the judicial course of.

One other distinguished casualty of the purge was Bachir Akremi. Some political activists say the decide is simply too near the Ennahda social gathering and accuse him of stopping circumstances in opposition to it. Ennahda and Akremi each deny the allegations.

Final July, Saied dismissed the federal government and seized government energy, earlier than setting apart the 2014 structure and dismissing the nation’s elected parliament.

He has been ruling by decree ever since, claiming he wanted to take motion to save lots of Tunisia from disaster. Initially, his strikes appeared to win public assist after years of financial stagnation, political paralysis and corruption, however public anger is rising amid excessive inflation and unemployment, and declining public companies.

Saied, who has additionally taken management of the as soon as unbiased electoral fee, has mentioned he’ll introduce a brand new structure this month that put it to a referendum in July.

Nevertheless, practically all of Tunisia’s political events have rejected the transfer together with the highly effective UGTT labour union.

The UGTT mentioned this week that public sector staff would go on strike on June 16, posing the largest direct problem to Saied’s energy seize up to now.