Tunisian judges accuse president of seeking control, setting up new struggle

Tunisia's President Kais Saied gives a speech at the government's swearing-in ceremony at the Carthage Palace outside the capital Tunis, Tunisia February 27, 2020. [Fethi Belaid/Pool via Reuters]

Tunisian judges on Sunday rejected President Kais Saied's moves to disband the council that oversees them, a move they see as undermining their independence, setting up a new struggle over his consolidation of power.

Saied announced overnight he was dissolving the Supreme Judicial Council, one of the few remaining state bodies still able to act independently of him, the latest in a series of moves his opponents call a coup.