The head of the Tunisian Association of Young Judges, Mourad Massoudi, pledged on Friday to "continue the struggle" against the decision of the country's president, Kais Saied, to dissolve the Supreme Judicial Council, at a time when dozens of professors and university researchers in Tunisia signed an electronic petition calling on Said to reverse his decision.

Al-Masoudi added, in a press conference in the capital, that the reform of the judicial system can only be within a legal framework, and not through decrees.

He described President Saeed's position as an attempt to seize the judiciary, warning of the dangerous situation of the judiciary in the country.

He added, "The president's decision puts us in imminent danger, and if he does not reverse it, we will continue the struggle and strikes, and we may reach the point of submitting a collective resignation."

Al-Masoudi said that the association will file a complaint with the United Nations in defense of the rights of judges, after monitoring a series of violations against them since July 25, 2021 and earlier.

For her part, the General Secretary of the Young Judges Association, Laila Al-Doss, said at the conference that we want reform, but in a participatory way and not in this way, as this does not coincide with the democratic path.

"We have called the president since last October to participate in reform, but we did not find an answer," she added.


electronic petition

In a related context, dozens of professors and university researchers in Tunisia signed an electronic petition calling on President Said to rescind the announcement of the dissolution of the Supreme Judicial Council.

The petition launched by law professors via Facebook has been signed by 36 university professors and researchers since Thursday evening, and the door for signature is still open.

The petition called on Saeed to retract the announcement of the dissolution of the council, declaring that the means of radical and complete reform of the judicial system can only be achieved with the involvement of all parties concerned with judicial affairs.

She added that we express our rejection of the president's going towards carrying out these reforms unilaterally through presidential decrees and orders and by exceptional measures, and in light of the exception.

And she continued: We adhere to the principles of the rule of law and the values ​​of the democratic republican system, within the framework of a civil state based on citizenship, the will of the people, the supremacy of law, and the principle of separation of powers.

The petition denounced the decision to dissolve the council, and considered it a "flagrant violation of the principle of separation of powers."

Yesterday, Thursday, President Saeed, during his speech at a cabinet meeting in the capital, Tunis, announced his intention to issue a presidential decree to dissolve the Supreme Judicial Council and replace it with another.

Following previous statements by the Tunisian president regarding his intention to dissolve the Judicial Council, the latter announced, in a statement last Sunday, his refusal to dissolve it in the absence of a constitutional and legal mechanism permitting this, in addition to the refusal of many judicial bodies and political parties to dissolve the Council.

The move to dissolve the Supreme Judicial Council also sparked widespread international concern and criticism, amid calls for the latter to reverse its decision.

The Supreme Judicial Council is an independent constitutional body, whose tasks include ensuring the independence of the judiciary, holding judges accountable and granting them professional promotions.

Tunisia has been witnessing a severe political crisis since July 25, 2021, when Said began imposing exceptional measures, including freezing the powers of Parliament, issuing legislation by presidential decrees, dismissing the government, and appointing new ones.

Saeed, who began a 5-year presidential term in 2019, said that his measures are "measures within the framework of the constitution to protect the state from an imminent danger," and stressed that rights and freedoms should not be violated.