On Thursday, the Tunisian Judges Association announced a historic success for the judges' strike on its fourth day, while the General Labor Union complained of targeting by the authorities after refusing to participate in the national dialogue sessions.
The head of the association, Anas Al-Hammadi, said - during a press conference held in the capital, Tunis - that the judges' strike recorded a historic success rate on its fourth day, and the suspension of work in all courts was responded to by 99%.
Al-Hammadi added that President Qais Saeed operates outside every legal framework, and intends to lay hands on and assassinate the judiciary.
Al Hammadi called on the Tunisian president to reverse this "unjust decision and lift this grievance against the judges" so that judicial work can resume normally, referring to the dismissal of 57 judges from their duties last week.
He also stressed the need to activate legal guarantees to hold judges accountable and discipline them, adding that judges do not have the honor to defend any corrupt judge, as he put it.
And last week, Saeed issued a presidential order dismissing 57 judges from their duties, on charges including “changing the course of cases” and “disrupting investigations” in “terrorism” files and “committing financial and moral corruption.” The judges deny the validity of these charges.
And last Saturday, the Judges’ Association decided to engage in open strikes and sit-ins, not to run for judicial positions to compensate the dismissed, and not to run for positions in subsidiary bodies affiliated with the Election Commission.
direct targeting
In a related context, the Secretary-General of the Tunisian Labor Union, Noureddine Taboubi, said today, Thursday, that the union is "largely targeted" by the authorities after refusing to participate in talks on the new constitution called for by President Kais Saied last month.
The union's secretary-general did not give details of the "targeting", but sources close to the powerful labor union said there was a real fear that Saeed would use the judiciary to strike the union after he sacked dozens of judges last week, a move seen as a new step to consolidate the one-man rule. .
Last summer, the president seized control of the executive authority in a move his opponents described as a coup, then repealed the 2014 constitution to rule by decree and dismiss the elected parliament.
This year, Said appointed a temporary council of the judiciary to replace the Supreme Judicial Council, which has served as the main guarantor of judicial independence since the 2011 revolution in Tunisia, which paved the way for democratic reforms.
The appeals court is expected to issue a decision in the coming period in a case brought by other unionists in the union to challenge the legitimacy of the union conference that re-elected the current leadership of the labor union.
The labor union's relationship with President Saeed was strained after the powerful union refused last month to participate in what it said was "a formal dialogue aimed only at recommending ready-made decisions."
The union, which is a major player in Tunisia, and includes about one million members, also called for a national strike in public companies on June 16, in protest against the government's economic policy.
Tunisia has been suffering since July 25, 2021, from a severe political crisis, when Saied began imposing exceptional measures, including dismissing the government, appointing others, dissolving Parliament and the Judicial Council, and issuing legislation by presidential decrees.
Tunisian forces see these measures as a "coup against the constitution", while other forces see them as a "correction of the course of the 2011 revolution", which overthrew the late President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (1987-2011).