A group of Tunisian lawyers issued a founding statement for what they called "lawyers to protect rights and freedoms" to monitor violations and abuses of individual and public rights, and to address them by all legal means.
The statement condemned what it called "random" arrests, night raids without respecting the stipulated penal procedures, and the trial of civilians before military courts.
The lawyers also condemned the targeting of foreign and Tunisian journalists, closing their offices or seizing their equipment and illegally disrupting their work.
Meanwhile, a number of Tunisian intellectuals, academics, civil and political activists, in an appeal to national and international public opinion, expressed their categorical rejection of what they said was a coup against the constitution, calling on President Kais Saied to end what they described as the arbitrary exceptional measures he announced, return to constitutional legitimacy and resume Parliament for his work.
The authors of the statement said that Article 80 of the constitution does not authorize the President of the Republic to take the aforementioned measures.
They also expressed their deep concern over the successive infringements on individual liberties, human rights, and freedom of the media.
Among the most prominent signatories to the statement is Mahdi al-Mabrouk, former Minister of Culture and trade union leader Abd al-Salam al-Kikli.
In the past few days, security arrests and judicial investigations have targeted a number of politicians and members of Parliament, following the exceptional decisions taken by the President in order to save the state and fight rampant corruption.
The arrests included members of the "Ennahda Movement" and "Qalb Tounes" and the "Aish Tounsi" association, and investigations were opened with them regarding the financing of electoral campaigns. Security also arrested a number of parliamentarians from other parties, including Yassin Al-Ayari of the "Amal and Action" movement, Faisal. Al-Tabini, for "Voice of the Farmers", and Muhammad Al-Afas, for "The Dignity Coalition."