Tunisia’s President Kais Saied abruptly replaced the interior and social affairs ministers on Saturday night in a surprise cabinet reshuffle, following a wave of arrests that have raised concerns about the health of the young democracy.
President Saied appointed Khaled Nouri as the new Minister of Interior, according to a statement from his office. Nouri replaces Kamel Feki, who was considered close to the head of state. Technocrat Kamel Madouri will assume the role of Minister of Social Affairs, replacing Malek Zahi, who was also seen as having the president’s favor.
The reshuffle introduced a new post of Secretary of State overseeing national security under the Interior Minister, with Sofiene Ben Sadok appointed to the role, the statement added without further details.
This cabinet change follows a series of arrests over the past two weeks involving approximately 10 human rights activists, lawyers, and journalists. The European Union, the United States, and former colonial power France have expressed concern over these arrests, prompting Saied to condemn what he described as “unacceptable foreign interference.”
The reshuffle was announced a day after hundreds of Tunisians marched through the capital, chanting “down with the dictatorship” in protest against the recent arrests under a presidential decree that critics argue is being used to stifle dissent.
Two Tunisian media figures were sentenced to one-year jail terms on Wednesday for comments deemed critical by the authorities, the latest in a series of prosecutions under Decree 54, a 2022 ban on “spreading false news.”
“Down with the decree,” the Tunisian marchers chanted. “Dictator Kais (Saied), it’s your turn now,” they added, referencing the Arab Spring uprising that toppled longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.
Saied, who was democratically elected president in 2019, seized sweeping authority in a 2021 power grab and has ruled by decree since. Since Decree 54 came into force, more than 60 journalists, lawyers, and opposition figures have been prosecuted, according to the National Union of Tunisian Journalists.
(AFP)
