According to Amnesty International have called on Tunisian authorities to end the ongoing erosion of judicial independence in the country. Amnesty International made the revelation recently marking two years since President Kais Saied granted himself powers to unilaterally dismiss judges.
Tunisian authorities must end the ongoing erosion of judicial independence in the country, according to Amnesty International on Friday, two years since President Kais Saied granted himself powers to unilaterally dismiss judges.
On 1 June 2022, President Saied issued Decree-Law 2022-35, which allowed him to dismiss any judge based on vague criteria and without due process. On the same day, he announced the dismissal of 57 judges and prosecutors, accusing the judges of obstructing terrorism-related investigations, financial corruption, « moral corruption, » and « adultery » including senior judges and prosecutors.
Despite an August 2022 decision by the Tunis Administrative Tribunal, ordering the reinstatement of 49 of the arbitrarily dismissed judges, the Ministry of Justice has not reinstated any of the judges until date. Moreover, judges and judicial institutions that have opposed the President’s measures and acted independently continue to face intimidation and harassment.
Early last year precisely in January, 37 of the 57 dismissed judges filed criminal complaints against the Minister of Justice for failing to comply with the Administrative Court’s decision. To date, no progress has been made on these complaints.
Two years on, the dismissed judges and prosecutors continue to suffer the professional, economic and reputational harm of this decision with no source of livelihood or social security coverage.
Hammadi Rahmani, a dismissed judge highlighted that since he and his colleagues were dismissed in that unlawful way, they are yet to receive an official justified decision to inform them of the reasons behind their dismissal.
However, he underscored that after two years, dismissals targeted the independence of judges and those who denounced the erosion of the principle of separation of power and the control of the judiciary by the executive.
