Tunisian President Saied Launches Campaign Of Repression Against OppositionSouth Front

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Written by Piero Messina

“Tunisia needs to be purified, like the blood of dialysis patients.” With these bloody words, the President of Tunisia Kais Saied addressed the nation in his end-of-year speech, broadcasted by the national television channel. Saied’s speech was welcomed by the opposition and trade unions as a real threat. After suspending constitutional guarantees in July 2021, after ousting the government, after dissolving parliament and calling new elections which ended in a memorable fiasco, now the Tunisian dictator president is threatening repression.

The TV images gave back to the Tunisian people the image of what everyone thought was a war cabinet. Saied addressed the nation along with Prime Minister Naila Boudeb, justice and defense ministers, the head of internal policy, and army and police chiefs.

Saied defended the results of the political elections: for the Tunisian president, 9 percent of voters voting is a better result than when the majority of the population went to the polls. Those who did not vote, according to Saied, are the “corrupt” people bought by the opposition who want to starve Tunisia and create the conditions for an endless crisis. In his speech to the nation, President Saied threatened anyone who tries to hinder his political project: “Tunisia’s sovereignty is a red line, and it completely is, whatever the price to pay”, emphasizing that “whoever tries to strike the state and civil peace will have to take full responsibility”.

From threats, President Saied immediately moved on to concrete facts: “this situation cannot last – he warns – and those who attack the state and its symbols cannot go unpunished by law”.

Precisely through the judicial system, President Saied intends to hit his opponents. In recent months, the president had dissolved the Superior Council of the Judiciary and replaced it with trusted members. Now, with yet another presidential decree, Saied has fired 57 magistrates who worked in the corruption sector, launching yet another accusation of conspiracy: “the Judges – said Saied – must assume their historic responsibilities and not tolerate those who try to circumvent the law by allowing criminals, smugglers and speculators to escape punishment”. Even the Tunisian information system is accused of being complicit in a plot against the nation: for President Saied, most journalists are “mercenaries”.

In Monastir, the exponent of Ennadha, Abdelkir Slimane, was arrested by the National Guard. According to initial reports, Slimane is accused of being responsible for a recycling network linking the Muslim Brotherhood party to Turkey. This is the case of Instalingo. Political leaders and magistrates ended up under the ax of President Saied’s ad personam Justice. Still under prosecution but free, is the historic leader of Ennadha, Ghannouchi. Ridha Belhaj and Ahmed Nejd Chebbi, spokesperson for the National Salvation Front, are also being investigated by the Judiciary which follows the dictates of the Carthage palace. The magistrates fired by Saied are also under the hammer of Justice.

How long can President Saied hold out? After the general strike in the transport sector that paralyzed the country on the first day of the year, protest demonstrations are expected by trade unions and trade associations. January has always been a horrible month for the country of Jasmine. The specter of a new civil war has never been so looming.