TUNIS: Tunisian legal scholars warned on Thursday that the legitimacy of next month’s presidential election will be damaged if the electoral commission does not respect court decisions last week to reinstate three disqualified candidates.
The warning came in a statement by scores of academics in Tunisia, where rights groups accuse President Kais Saied of unpicking the democracy introduced after the Arab Spring.
Last week, the administrative court, the highest judicial body that adjudicates over electoral disputes, reinstated three prominent candidates, Mondher Znaidi, Abdellatif Mekki and Imed Daimi, in the Oct. 6 vote after the commission had rejected their candidacy.
But this week the election commission rejected the court ruling. It approved only the candidacies of Saied and two others, Zouhair Magzhaoui and Ayachi Zammel, for the election.
The decision has sparked widespread criticism among all parties, activists and rights groups.
Znaidi, Daimi and Mekki said they would continue their legal battle against what they say is a “fraud” by the commission aimed at paving the way for Saied to win a second term.
The statement, by about 90 law professors and academics widely seen as neutral in Tunisia’s complex political landscape, called on the commission “to abide by the Court’s decision to ensure the credibility of the electoral process and protect the rule of law.”
“The commission’s decision puts the electoral process at risk as it affects its credibility and integrity and necessarily leads to questioning the election results,” they added.
The public prosecutor on Wednesday ordered the detention of Zammel after he was arrested on suspicion of falsifying popular endorsements. Zammel has denied wrongdoing and says he is being intimidated because he is serious rival in the race.
Saied was democratically elected in 2019 then tightened his grip on power and began ruling by decree in 2021 in a move the opposition described as a coup. He said last year he would not hand over Tunisia to “non-patriots.”
Tunisia’s law professors warn presidential election legitimacy at risk
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Tunisia’s law professors warn presidential election legitimacy at risk
- The warning came in a statement by scores of academics in Tunisia, where rights groups accuse President Kais Saied of unpicking the democracy introduced after the Arab Spring
- Znaidi, Daimi and Mekki said they would continue their legal battle against what they say is a “fraud” by the commission aimed at paving the way for Saied to win a second term
Take back and prosecute your jailed Daesh militants, Iraq tells Europe
RAQQA: Baghdad on Friday urged European states to repatriate and prosecute their citizens who fought for Daesh, and who are now being moved to Iraq from detention camps in Syria.
Europeans were among 150 Daesh prisoners transferred so far by the US military from Kurdish custody in Syria. They were among an estimated 7,000 militants due to be moved across the border to Iraq as the Kurdish-led force that has held them for years relinquishes swaths of territory to the advancing Syrian army.
In a telephone call on Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said European countries should take back and prosecute their nationals.
An Iraqi security official said the 150 so far transferred to Iraq were “all leaders of the Daesh group, and some of the most notorious criminals.” They included “Europeans, Asians, Arabs and Iraqis,” he said.
Another Iraqi security source said the group comprised “85 Iraqis and 65 others of various nationalities, including Europeans, Sudanese, Somalis, and people from the Caucasus region.”
They all took part in Daesh operations in Iraq, he said, and were now being held at a prison in Baghdad.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that “non-Iraqi terrorists will be in Iraq temporarily.”
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces jailed thousands of militant fighters and detained tens of thousands of their relatives in camps as it pushed out Daesh in 2019 after five years of fighting.
