The President of Tunisia extends the state of emergency until the end of 2023 and calls on the National Guard to confront the "enemies of the homeland"

Tunisian President Kais Saied decided yesterday, Tuesday, to extend the state of emergency in the country until the end of the current year 2023, and called on the National Guard to confront those he described as enemies of the homeland, at a time when the National Salvation Front warned against the president employing the military judiciary against his opponents.

The state of emergency grants the Tunisian Ministry of the Interior exceptional powers, including banning meetings, curfews and labor strikes, inspecting shops, and monitoring the press, publications, radio broadcasts, and cinematic and theatrical performances.

These powers are applied without the need to obtain prior permission from the judiciary, which raises growing domestic and international criticism.

Tunisia has been under a state of emergency since 2015, following a suicide attack on November 24 of the same year, which targeted a presidential guard bus in the center of the capital, Tunis, and was claimed by the Islamic State. The attack killed 12 members of the presidential guard and wounded 20 others.

President Saied extended the state of emergency in February 2022 until the end of the same year, then extended it until the end of January 2023.

Fear of the opposition

Opposition forces in Tunisia express fears of abusing the state of emergency against those who reject the exceptional measures imposed by the President of the Republic on July 25, 2021, which exacerbated the political crisis in the country, which exacerbated another crisis on the economic level.

Among these exceptional measures are the dissolution of the Judicial Council and Parliament, the issuance of legislation by presidential decrees, the holding of early legislative elections on December 17, 2022, and the adoption of a new constitution through a referendum on July 25, 2022.

The extension of the state of emergency came two days after the early parliamentary run-offs were held, in which the Election Authority said the voter turnout did not exceed 11.4%.

In a related context, the Tunisian president called on Tuesday the leaders of the National Guard to "confront those who conspired against the state," stressing that "the enemies of the state and the enemies of the homeland cannot be left out of accountability."

Saeed's invitation came during his meeting with senior leaders of the National Guard (forces affiliated with the Ministry of Interior) at the El-Awaina barracks in Tunis, according to a video recording posted by the Presidency on its Facebook page.

Although he does not name her, the Tunisian opposition usually sees that she is the target of Saeed's accusations, due to its rejection of the exceptional measures that the president began to impose.

Military Judgement

The head of the National Salvation Front in Tunisia, Ahmed Najib al-Shabi, accused President Kais Saied of employing the military judiciary to take revenge on his opponents, and issuing rulings all related to media posts or statements.

In his intervention during a political seminar on Tuesday, Al-Shabi considered that the military trials are harmful to the country's reputation and the army's neutrality.

Al-Shabi stressed that the era that President Said describes as the black decade was the decade of freedoms, institutions and separation of powers, as he put it.