Tunisia

TUNIS, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Tunisia's top judge accused President Kais Saied of illegally undermining the judiciary's independence by dissolving the Supreme Judicial Council on Sunday and warned that judges "will not stay silent".

Saied announced the decision overnight, the latest move in his consolidation of power after dismissing the parliament and sacking the prime minister in July and promising to remake the democratic constitution in moves his critics call a coup.

TUNIS, Jan 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Tunisian Interior Ministry announced that a 22-year-old woman was arrested at Tunis-Carthage International Airport on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack.

“On Jan 10, the anti-terrorist unit under the National Guard arrested a 22-year-old woman at Tunis-Carthage Airport who arrived from Turkey,” the ministry said in a statement.

28 Jan 2022; MEMO: Members of the suspended Tunisian Parliament called, on Thursday 27 January 2022, to keep the Parliament in permanent session to take the necessary decisions to confront the "coup", in reference by the members to the exceptional measures imposed by President Kais Saied.

27 Jan 2022; MEMO: On Wednesday, the Tunisian government announced its decision to extend the ban of all demonstrations for two more weeks, starting from tonight, as a precautionary measure against the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This came in a statement issued by the Presidency of the Government, which Anadolu Agency viewed.

"It has been decided to extend the preventive measures announced since 12 January, for another two weeks". The statement said.

24 Jan 2022; MEMO: Tunisian President Kais Saied's chief of staff and closest adviser said, on Monday, she had resigned due to "fundamental differences in opinion" over the country's interests, Reuters reports.

Nadia Akacha has been Saied's closest aide since he rose to office in a 2019 landslide and his moves last July to suspend parliament and assume executive power in a measure that his opponents call a coup.

22 Jan 2022; MEMO: The German Embassy in Tunisia announced on Friday that Ambassador Peter Prügel confirmed during a conversation with Tunisian Minister of Finance Sihem Boughdiri Nemsia the payment of a €100 million ($115 million) loan by the German KfW Development Bank, agreed upon in 2020.

TUNIS, Jan 19 (Reuters) - A Tunisian man died in hospital on Wednesday from injuries inflicted by police, activists and the main opposition Ennahda party said, in what would be the first death related to protests against President Kais Saied's assumption of extra powers.

A Tunis court investigating the death said the man, found in a coma on Mohamed V Street in the capital, was taken to hospital on Friday and died on Wednesday. A court statement made no mention of whether the man was one of the demonstrators.

19 Jan 2022; MEMO: Tunisian President, Kais Saied, on Tuesday, extended the country's state of emergency for another month, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The extension will last until 18 February, according to the Tunisian official gazette.

Saied had extended the state of emergency before, on 24 July, for six months, ending on Wednesday.

Tunisia had first announced the state of emergency in 2015, following a terrorist attack. Since then, it has been extended by authorities.

04 Jan 2022; MEMO: The news of the arrest of the Vice President of the Ennahda movement, Noureddine Bhiri, has rekindled the controversy over the existence of "secret prisons" in the country, especially in light of the statements of Bhiri's defence team about putting him in one of the "secret prisons" that existed under the regime of former president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, which is supposed to be closed for many years.

03 Jan 2022; MEMO: Former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki criticized the national consultation announced recently by the authorities, indicating that it is a "deceptive plan" to obtain Tunisians' data to use them for the future re-election of President Kais Saied.