TUNIS: Tunisia’s political crisis worsened Monday (June 6) when President Kais Saied ordered cuts in judges’ salaries to account for strike days after they began a week-long work stoppage in protest at his decision to fire dozens of them.
Saied, who has been trying to gradually tighten his grip on power, fired 57 judges last week, accusing them of corruption and protecting terrorists.
Courtrooms across the country were closed on Monday.
The head of the Tunisian Association of Judges, Anas Hamaidi, said 99 percent of judges observed the first day of the strike and that the action would continue until Saied reinstated the dismissed workers.
The president took over executive power last summer in a move his opponents called a coup, after which he set aside the 2014 constitution to rule by decree and dismiss the elected parliament.
The president also replaced the Independent Electoral Commission, leaving him questioning the credibility of any elections ahead of a referendum on a new constitution he has planned for July 25.
Said also replaced the Supreme Judicial Council this year, which had been the main guarantee of the independence of the judiciary since the 2011 Tunisian revolution that heralded the introduction of democratic reforms.
