U.S. officials have met with Tunisian civil society representatives amid Washington's concern over the dissolution of the Supreme Judicial Council, the U.S. embassy in Tunisia said on Tuesday, escalating international pressure on President Kais Saied.
Saied last week dissolved the council, one of the remaining institutions in Tunisia that was able to work independently of him, in the latest of a series of moves his opponents have described as being part of a coup.
U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretaries Karen Sasahara and Christopher Le Mon met with Tunisian civil society representatives to discuss recent political and judicial developments, the U.S. embassy said in statement.
"We are concerned by Tunisian President Saied’s decree.. Last week, we joined like-minded partners in emphasizing that an independent judiciary is a core element of an effective and transparent democracy", State Department spokesman Ned Price had said a day earlier.
Tunisia's president cemented his grip over the judiciary on Sunday with a decree that lets him dismiss judges or block their promotion, helping consolidate his power after he seized executive authority last summer.
Saied outraged his opponents and alarmed democratic foreign allies with his announcement about the judicial body.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, said earlier this week there were proposals to stop the disbursement of financial aid to Tunisia.
(Reporting By Tarek; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
