Is Kais Saied Planning A Coup In Tunisia?

-

President Kais Saied of Tunisia is out to declare literally a coup as he decided to take judicial matters in his hands. Announcing over on a Sunday morning that he has taken the power of dismissing or appointing judges in his own hands, the city has been rocking with protests against his administration.

The city of Tunis, in the capital of Tunisia, was thronging with people as they protested against Saied’s decision to dismiss judges and block their promotion, in addition to the power to propose judicial reform. This move comes a week after Saied already made a move to dissolve the Supreme Judicial Council.

This was an independent body that was set up in 2016 to guarantee the independence of the judiciary. Saied accused the Supreme Judicial Council of corruption and of acting with vested interests. It has been seen that Saied has been gradually moving towards removing any kind of democratic setup in Tunisia.

Saied has accused the judges of taking bribes. The International Commission of Jurists said the accusations were “unfounded.” According to Youssef Bouzakher, head of the dissolved


Supreme Judicial Council, the president’s decree was, ‘unconstitutional’ and essentially ended an independent judiciary.

Citizens can smell a coup in the making. Shouting slogans against Saied’s action, they have taken to the streets. Tunisia broke into a large protest as oil prices started to rise.

The Tunisian court had recently announced that 19 politicians, including Islamist parliament speaker Rached Ghannouchi and four former prime ministers, will be prosecuted for 'electoral crimes'. Even Saied himself has been named in the report that found many politicians in violation.

Saied’s crackdown on the judiciary comes just six months after he suspended the Tunisian parliament and dismissed Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi in July 2021, taking rule over the country himself by decree in what has also been described as a coup. Initially, parliament was supposed to have been suspended for just 30 days, but the president has continued to extend the suspension. In December 2021, he said that the suspension of parliament would continue until elections planned for December 2022.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Is Truss Government Looking At Relaxing Immigration Rules?

-
Image
UK is moving towards relaxing labor shortage norms to make up for the windfall in its crucial food industry There are plans in the UK to ease off immigration rules as the country faces issues with labour shortage and need to boost economic growth. There are plans to expand the government’s shortage occupation list in order to fill in crucial vacancies. The best way that the new PM sees is by inviting overseas workers. A range of sectors are facing labor shortage and Ms Truss has been getting requests from the various to ease off immigration restrictions to ease off the labor shortage pressures. Businesses it is told have been frustrated over the visa system for skilled workers of being unresponsive to not fill the windfall. A severe shortage in farming for example needs to be addressed. Such shortages, it seems is looking like it will badly affect food and the farming sector. The first one to be helped would be the seasonal workers’ programme. Similarly, those in dire need will nee
Read more
-
Image
Callousness of authorities have been blamed by residents whose family members have gone missing while transiting illegally through Tunisia  Residents of Zarzis in southern Tunisia has extremely angry. They are blaming authorities for having buried drowned migrants from the coastal city without the informing families or finding out their whereabouts. Blockades and tyre burning has been their way of revolting and retaliating in the Medenine governorate. A boat carrying migrants to Europe went missing on the September 21. It was carrying as many as 18 people. Those who perished included a child as well. They all came from Zarzis, a city of 78,000 residents known as a crossing point for both Tunisian and Sub-Saharan African migrants. Authorities have been accused of negligence in initial attempts to look for the missing boat — even thwarting independent efforts with misinformation — and subsequently not putting enough effort into the search for bodies. This was compounded by bodies be
Read more

Iranian President Refuses Interview To CNN Reporter In The US

-
Image
Iranian President has to be interviewed but the famous Christiane Amanpour might not be doing this, if she doesn't wear a head scarf The woman is known to have interviewed the top and the best in the world. Political leaders vouch for her preciseness and accuracy of reporting and high journalistic standards. The international CNN anchor  Christiane Amanpour has however not received very great response when she has had the chance to interview the President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi. She has been asked to wear a head gear (cover her head in the conventional manner) before she decides to interview the President.  Visiting the United Nations with other world leaders this week, President Raisi was to speak with Amanpour, she said, amid the uprising back home. Posting about the incident on twitter, she said that it was going to be his first interview on U.S. soil. A whole lot of preparation had been done to ensure the interview went ahead well. But as Amanpour gently refused to wear a head
Read more