The Tunisian president has appointed a new High Council of the Judiciary

According to a statement published by the Tunisian presidency on Facebook, Tunisian President Kaïs Saied issued a decree to temporarily appoint a new High Council of the Judiciary. The news comes a week after controversy erupted over the dissolution of the previous High Council, one of the few independent institutions that remained outside of the presidency. 

The same communiqué from the Tunisian presidency stressed the need, according to the president, to "purge the country of all the causes of corruption that accompany it", and that in order to do so, "the establishment of a fair judiciary in which all are equal before the law" was required. 

The Superior Council of the Judiciary is in charge of appointing judges, and for some months now it has been the main target of Saied's criticism. In the past year, he had already revoked some of its financial privileges, and had also reduced the body's capacity to a minimum.  

But it was only last week that Saied accused the institution of "selling posts", and blamed the magistrates who made it up for "cohabiting with criminals". He finally took the decision to dissolve the body. 

Following this decision, the former president of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy, Youssef Bouzakher, said that Saied had "moved on to the stage of taking over the institutions. What is happening is very dangerous and illegal".

However, in the face of the demonstrations on 10 February 2022 and the many criticisms of the decision, the head of state insisted on "his respect" for the independence of the judiciary, and stressed the need to separate the different powers of the state, according to Europa Press. Although Said, who was a professor of constitutional law at the University, had already stressed this position on numerous occasions. 

This decision adds yet another to the growing political tensions in Tunisia, which since July 2021 have not stopped growing. After the Tunisian president dissolved the government and suspended the parliament, claiming these powers under constitutional protection. Since then, Said has been preparing a new constitution, which will be submitted to a referendum next summer. 

The various opposition parties have expressed their outrage at the president's latest actions, organising numerous demonstrations against him in recent months. Human rights groups fear that the president is becoming increasingly authoritarian. 

Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Egypt's president, once again supported the decisions taken by Said, and said the country counted on "Egypt's strong support for the leadership and government of Tunisia in taking any steps to preserve the integrity of the Tunisian state and achieve stability".  

These statements followed the Egyptian president's meeting with Tunisian Prime Minister Najla Boden in the French city of Brest. He also expressed "Egypt's confidence in the ability of the Tunisian authority, headed by President Kais Saied, to cross the current delicate stage towards a future one that responds to the aspirations of the brotherly Tunisian people".