Tunisian judges reject president's plan to dissolve judicial body

TUNIS, Tunisia

Tunisian judges on Thursday held a vigil to reject Tunisian President Kais Saied's intention to dissolve the Supreme Judicial Council.

The judges raised slogans in front of the Palais de Justice in the capital Tunis rejecting, what they said, Saied’s "intervention in the judicial authority."

The vigil was also joined by a number of lawyers and Tunisian citizens who supported the judges.

The president said on Monday that a draft decree to dissolve the Supreme Judicial Council is ready, stressing the necessity to take such a move.

On Sunday, Saied announced plans to dissolve the council, an independent constitutional body whose tasks include ensuring the independence of the judiciary, holding judges accountable, and granting them professional promotions.

The council “has become a thing of the past,” Saied said, accusing it of becoming a place “where positions and appointments are sold according to loyalties.”

Tunisian security forces closed the council’s headquarters on Monday and prevented employees from entering it.

Last July, Saied dismissed the government, suspended parliament, and assumed executive authority amid mounting public anger over economic stagnation and political paralysis.

While Saied insists that his "exceptional measures" were meant to "save" the country, critics have accused him of orchestrating a coup.

* Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara.