UN, Western envoys urge Tunisia to restore judicial watchdog

UN, Western envoys urge Tunisia to restore judicial watchdog

TUNIS: Tunisian President Kais Saied faced growing pressure on Tuesday from judges, the UN and world powers after he scrapped a key judicial watchdog, triggering renewed accusations he is moving toward authoritarian rule. Saied dissolved the Supreme Judicial Council on Sunday, months after sacking the government and seizing wide-reaching powers in the North African country, often lauded as the only democracy to emerge from the 2011 Arab revolts. The former law professor had long inveighed against the council, accusing members of blocking investigations into the 2013 assassinations of leftist political figures Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi. He had also accused his nemesis, the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party that had played a central role in Tunisian politics for the decade between the revolution and Saied’s power grab, of infiltrating the body. The president, who has put fighting corruption at the heart of his program, insisted Monday that he would “never interfere with the judiciary” and that removing the judicial council was necessary as Tunisians wanted the country “cleansed.” But his removal of the council, set up in 2016 to shield judges from government influence, sparked renewed anger from critics who say he is installing a new dictatorship, 11 years after the fall