Tunisia's president announces a proclamation establishing a new judicial oversight body.

President Saied expanded his authority to govern over a revamped Supreme Judiciary Council by issuing a new executive order.

With the promulgation of the new interim Supreme Judiciary Council, President Ben Ali has essentially replaced the body he had destroyed and given himself extra authority over the country's main judicial organization.

The decree, which was published in the official gazette on Sunday, states that the president has complete influence over the selection, appointment, promotion, and transfer of judges, and that he or she may function as a disciplinary body in charge of removals in specific instances. None of the judges assigned to the new council will be elected, which is in violation of international treaties.

A strike by judges, which was utilized to protest President Kais Saied's pronouncement that the council would become "a thing of the past" on February 6, is likewise prohibited by the law.

In the evening of Sunday, thousands of protestors marched through Tunisia's capital as part of a march organized by the country's largest political party Ennahda and a different civil society organization that had been planned prior to the decree's publication.

"Shut down the coup... take your hands off the judiciary," several demonstrators screamed as they waved Tunisian flags.

An activist named Nadia Salem told Reuters that "what has occurred is the culmination of the coup... " Tunisia has morphed from a fledgling democracy into a nascent dictatorship following a period of transition.

On Thursday, Justice Minister Leila Jaffel said on national television that the judicial body will be changed rather than eliminated, giving the impression that Saied was reversing his position.

Nevertheless, Anas Hamadi, the President of Tunisia's Association of Judges, told Al Jazeera that Saied's presidential decree meant that the "legitimate council" had been abolished and that "a new council obedient to the executive power" had been "installed," despite the absence of legal justification for doing so.

In his speech, Hamadi said that "the activity of this council is subject to the decision of the president, and there are no elected members." "The president has the authority to use a veto over the activity of this committee and to reverse its judgments," says the president.

"This is an obvious and evident usurpation of the judiciary's authority, and it is in direct conflict with democratic ideals."

The demonstrations on Sunday follow a two-day strike called by the Association of Tunisian Judges on Wednesday, which was largely followed across the country.

The president, according to Hamadi, "prohibited the right to strike," which is guaranteed by Article 36 of the constitution. A "crisis cell" has been established inside the organization to debate how to proceed moving ahead, he added.

"The order consolidates authority in the hands of the President," according to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), essentially putting an end to "any appearance of judicial independence in the country."

Decree 11 on the Temporary High Judicial Council (THJC) is unconstitutional and illegal. Under the Decree, the President directly appoints and directly influences the appointment of all the THJC members. None of them are elected judges, as required by international law. pic.twitter.com/sticmsV95H

— الدولية للحقوقيين | ICJ MENA (@ICJ_MENA) February 13, 2022

Tunisia has returned to its worst days, when judges were moved and fired on the basis of presidential whim, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said in a ruling that the order was both "unconstitutional and unlawful."

Following the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, Tunisia was widely hailed as the sole democracy to emerge. However, since Saied was elected president with over 73 percent of the vote in a runoff election in October 2019, the country's successes have been partially reversed.

Saied, who has placed the battle against corruption at the center of his campaign, said that the removal of the judicial council was important because Tunisians want a "cleaning" of the nation.

He has said that his actions are just temporary, although he has not defined how long the newly established interim council would be in place.

Al Jazeera said that Tunisian writer Elizia Volkmann said the decree "appears to be reinforcing the three basic powers of state" after measures handed forth in September accorded Saied executive and legislative authority.

Since July 25, when Saied ousted Prime Minister Hicham Mechichi and suspended parliament, the judiciary has been staunchly opposed to his political maneuvering.

"Everything has come to a head this week," Volkmann said emphatically.

Saied claimed that the body was no longer a "thing of the past" the next day, and the council immediately filed suit against the Ministry of Interior to get the keys to its offices, which had been locked by police a day earlier. A hearing was conducted on Friday, but there has been no announcement of a decision.

While Volkmann predicted that Sunday's rallies would be peaceful, he warned that resentment over the new order might fuel riots similar to those that erupted on January 14, the anniversary of the ouster of Tunisia's President Ben Ali, on the same day.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES