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In Tunisia, Civil Society Denounces the Draft New Constitution Which Strengthens the Powers of the President

Human rights NGOs, lawyers, and political parties are on their guard, scalded by the attacks of the president, Kaรฏs Saรฏed, against journalists and judges.

Thursday morning, on top of a large hotel in downtown Tunis. About fifty representatives of civil society are gathered on the ninth floor of the building. A week before Sunday’s referendum on the Constitution, they came to denounce the presidential project. โ€œWe revolted for dignity [โ€ฆ].  Where are we with all of this? ” , launches in a solemn tone Neila Zoghlami, head of the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD), evoking the “fear of a return to the past” , ten years after the revolution having ended, in 2011, during the reign of Ben Ali. โ€œWe have come together to say no and a thousand times no [โ€ฆ]  to this referendum, no to the backsliding on the achievement of freedomsโ€, she concludes, after a long speech, to the applause of an assembly of NGO members, activists, lawyers and trade unionists.

A major setback in civil liberties

These actors have accompanied the country’s democratic transition in recent years and expect a major decline in civil liberties once the text has been voted on. The warning signs have multiplied in recent months in many sectors. “National television has interrupted all political debate programmes”, explains Amira Mohamed, producer of Midi Show on Mosaรฏque FM, the most listened to political program in the country, to which, she assures, “members of the government now refuse to participateโ€. Accused of having relayed fake news, several journalists were tried before a military court. One of them was even detained for sixteen months after refusing to divulge his sources. Worryingly, the president postponed the vote on the law organizing the media sector until after the referendum.

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On June 2, 57 judges were suspended for corruption cases. A coup intended to “mobilize public opinion,” said a lawyer on condition of anonymity. The president has made sure to highlight the magistrates known in the eyes of the population to be notorious corrupt, like the first president of the Court of Cassation and the public prosecutor at the anti-terrorist pole. The problem is that no legal proceedings are underway. โ€œKaรฏs Saรฏed relied on this file to denigrate the image of the institutions [โ€ฆ].  He has been feeding public opinion with hatred for months,โ€ says Jabeur Ouajah, an activist and member of the Euromed human rights network.

The political parties, starting with Ennahdha and the Free Destourian Party, the two formations with the most weight in the opposition, are on their guard. โ€œKaรฏs Saรฏed is unpredictableโ€ , recognizes Ajmi Lourimi, a member of the political committee of Ennahdha. โ€œThe present wants to make its decisions alone; Parliament’s mission will be confined to a role of registering laws, decrypts Adnene Hajj, an independent deputy and veteran activist who spent three years in Ben Ali’s prisons.  The president is laying the pillars of his power before showing us the truncheon.โ€

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