Search Results for: Tunisia

Tunisian President Kais Saied has caused serious harm to judicial independence in the country by granting himself the absolute authority to dismiss judges summarily by decree and quickly firing 57 of them, said 10 human rights organizations in a joint press release on Friday. The organizations called Decree 2022-35 an assault on the rule of [...]

President of Tunisia Kais Saied Wednesday fired 57 judges, accusing them of corruption, protection of terrorists and sexual harassment. Saied announced the decision in the nation’s Official Gazette. In a televised address, the president claimed that he repeatedly warned the judges to purify themselves of their vices, but they never ceased their actions. He insisted that [...]

A three-judge Irish Special Criminal Court panel Monday found Lisa Smith, a former Irish soldier, guilty of being a member of ISIS. Smith traveled to Syria after Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the former head of the Islamic State Caliphate, asked international Muslims to come to Syria. Smith plead not guilty to ISIS membership, claiming she only traveled [...]

Tunisian President Kais Saied Saturday announced a plan to compensate the victims of the 2011 revolution that ushered democracy into the country after the ousting of then-president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Saied’s decree declares compensation for “martyrs,” including police and army personnel killed and wounded during what he referred to as “terrorist attacks.” The [...]

The mass exodus of women and children from Ukraine has sparked the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.  More than three million refugees have poured out of Ukraine since Russia began its full-scale invasion of the country on February 24. Upwards of 1.8 million of those refugees have crossed into Poland. And [...]

The Russian-Ukrainian crisis started to deteriorate in early 2021 when Ukraine arrested pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk on allegations of conspiring a coup d’etat, and Russia initiated military exercises near the Ukrainian border. Russia is the second-largest oil producer, trailing only the United States, and the third-leading oil exporter, behind Saudi Arabia and the United Arab [...]

Tunisian President Kais Saied Monday appointed members to the temporary judicial council to replace the state’s Supreme Judicial Council that dissolved last month. During the televised swearing-in ceremony held at the president’s palace, Saied extolled the importance of an independent judiciary. He further stated: “We are fighting together against the corruption, against those who want [...]

Tunisia President Kais Saied on Sunday issued a decree replacing the country’s judicial independence watchdog with his own council and giving himself near-unilateral power over the appointment and dismissal of judges. Protests followed shortly after as citizens denounced Saied’s most recent step toward authoritarianism. In July, Saied dismissed the sitting prime minister and suspended parliament, [...]

Tunisian President Kais Saied dissolved the Supreme Judicial Council Sunday. In a meeting at the headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior, President Saied called the council “a thing of the past.” The president accused members of the judiciary of corruption and collusion with criminals. He alluded that positions in the judiciary are sold and [...]

Former President Moncef Marzouki Wednesday was sentenced in absentia to four years in prison by the Tunis Court of First Instance. Marzouki’s conviction was due to his “undermining the external security of the State,” according to Tunisia’s national press agency. Marzouki served as Tunisia’s president from 2011 through 2014. Most recently, Marzouki has received attention [...]