Tunisian President Dissolves Supreme Judicial Council, but Council Refuses To Disband

Police in Tunisia blocked entrance to the country’s Supreme Judicial Council a day after President Kais Saied dissolved the judicial body, but the council has refused to disband, announcing that it would continue to operate and that it “would not be silent.” Kais accused the independent judicial watchdog set up in 2016 to ensure the independence of the judiciary of bias. He accused the council of preventing an investigation into assassinations in 2013 of left-wing opposition politicians claimed by the Islamic State. Saied called on his supporters to protest the lack of an investigation in front of the council building in Tunis, which they did on Sunday. In July, Saied fired the government and suspended parliament, and assumed executive authority in a move his critics have called a coup. He has since attempted to rule by decree and has said he plans to rewrite the country’s constitution, unveiled in 2014 following Tunisia’s 2011 revolution. The Supreme Judicial Council is one of the few remaining state bodies still able to act independently of Saied. Supreme Judicial Council head Youssef Bouzakher on Sunday called the president’s decision to dissolve the body “illegal and a direct assimilation of the presidency.”