Tunisia

18 Feb 2022; MEMO: A member of Tunisia's suspended parliament, Yassin Ayari, told Reuters that a military court, on Friday, sentenced him in absentia to 10 months in prison on charges of insulting the President and the army, after he described the President's move to freeze parliament as a military coup.

President Kais Saied suspended the Parliament on 25 July, dismissed the government and seized control of most authorities, drawing widespread criticism at home and abroad, Reuters reports.

TUNIS, Feb 18 (Reuters) - President Kais Saied on Friday extended Tunisia's state of emergency until Dec. 31 of this year, the official gazette said.

The North African country has been under a state of emergency since 2015 after an attack in which several presidential guards were killed.

18 Feb 2022; MEMO: Administrative judges in Tunisia carried out a one-day strike yesterday in protest against President Kais Saied's decision to dissolve the Supreme Judicial Council and replace it with a temporary body.

16 Feb 2022; MEMO: The World Bank will lend Tunisia about $400 million to finance social reforms, the government said yesterday, Reuters reports.

After a meeting with Prime Minister Najla Bouden, the World Bank Vice President Ferid Belhaj said the Bank was ready to provide the necessary funds for Tunisia to implement economic reforms.

14 Feb 2022; MEMO: Former Tunisian President, Moncef Marzouki, said Sunday, 13 February 2022, "no dialogue with the coup" calling for dismissal of President Kais Saied because he became an "illegitimate president" and called for the Opposition to prepare an alternative.

14 Feb 2022; MEMO: The executive office of the Union of Administrative Magistrates of Tunisia (UMA) has called on Tunisian judges not to recognise the temporary Supreme Judicial Council appointed by President Kais Saied and to boycott its work.

In a statement published on Facebook, the UMA warned that the Council "represents a flagrant violation of the principle of separation of powers" and "undermines the judges right to choose their counterparts" in the Council through fair elections.

13 Feb 2022; MEMO: Tunisia's president signed a decree on Saturday to establish a provisional Supreme Judiciary Council to replace the current body.

"The Supreme Judicial Council was dissolved to end impunity and an interim council was brought in place," said President Kais Saied, according to a statement issued by the Tunisian presidency.

"Fair justice, fair accountability is a sacred duty and one of the legitimate demands of the Tunisian people," he said.

09 Feb 2022; MEMO: The Assistant Secretary-General of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), Samir Cheffi, denied his organisation's approval of carrying out any national dialogue that excludes the President of the Republic Kais Saied or the Ennahda Movement.

Cheffi denounced calls by some national parties and figures to hold a national dialogue based on the exclusion of the president and Ennahda.

07 Feb 2022; MEMO: The Head of Tunisia's Supreme Judicial Council, Youssef Bouzakher, confirmed that the country's President, Kais Saied, did not announce the dissolution of the Council, but rather said that it had become something in the past.

This came in a statement to the Mosaique FM radio, as he indicated that there is no legitimate legal or constitutional mechanism that would allow the President to dissolve the Supreme Judicial Council.

06 Feb 2022; MEMO: Tunisian President Kais Saied said he plans to dissolve the country's Supreme Judicial Council, amid tension with the judiciary, Anadolu Agency reported.

The council "has become a thing of the past," Saied said in a statement on Sunday.

"This council has become a place where positions and appointments are sold according to loyalties," he added.