Tunisian president sacks dozens of judges, tightening grip on the judiciary

Tunisia’s president sacked fifty-seven judges on Wednesday, accusing them of corruption and protecting terrorists in a purge of the judiciary as he seeks to remake the political system after joining one-person rule.

Tunisia's President Kaiis Saied is pictured at the Tunis-Carthage International Airport as he receives his Algerian counterpart visiting the Tunisian capital.

In a televised address, President Kaiis Saied said he had “given opportunity after opportunity and warning to the judiciary to purify itself.” Hours later, the official gazette published a decree announcing the dismissals.

Among those sacked was Youssef Bouzaker, the former head of the Supreme Judicial Council whose members Saied replaced this year as he moved to take control of the judiciary.

The council had functioned as the main guarantor of judicial independence since Tunisia’s 2011 revolution introduced democracy, and Saied’s changes prompted accusations he was interfering in the judicial process.

Another prominent judge on the list of those sacked was Bashir Akremi, whom some political activists accused of being too close to the Islamist Ennahda party and stopping cases against it. Ennahda and Akremi both deny that.

Last summer, Saied dismissed the government and seized executive power in a move his foes called a coup before setting aside the 2014 constitution to rule by decree and dismissing the elected parliament.

He says his moves were needed to save Tunisia from crisis and his intervention initially appeared to have widespread public support after years of economic stagnation, political paralysis, and corruption.

Said, who has also replaced the independent electoral commission, has said he will introduce a new constitution this month that he will put to a referendum next month.

However, all of Tunisia’s political parties, along with the powerful Tunisian General Labour Union, have rejected the move.

With Tunisia’s economy failing and public finances in crisis, Saied faces the prospect of growing widespread anger over high inflation and unemployment and declining public services.

The Tunisian General Labour Union said this week that public sector workers would go on strike on June 16, posing the most significant direct challenge to Saied’s political stance.