TUNIS, July 17 (IslamOnline & News
Agencies) - Tunisian Ministry of Justice officially sacked judge Mokhtar Yahyawi Monday in an immediate retaliatory reaction to his open criticism of President Zein el-Abedin Bin-Ali, news agencies reported.
In a letter to Bin-Ali published July 12 in the French newspaper 'Le Monde', Yahyawi had openly criticized the Tunisian president, asking him to give the judiciary its freedom and autonomy from the ruling power.
In the letter, Yahyawi severely criticized the Tunisian government's insistence on turning the judiciary into a state-controlled body.
The Ministry of Justice carried an investigation with judge Yahyawi on July 12 about the content of his letter, which intimated that Tunisian judges are coerced by the government into issuing verdicts that clash with the law.
"I expected no other reaction," said Yahyawi, quoted on Tuesday by the French newspaper 'Liberation'.
"I had already asked for leave from work when I sent President Bin-Ali my letter….I am prepared to suffer more punishments for the sake of an autonomous Tunisian judiciary," he added.
Yahyawi confirmed - in comments published July 12 in 'Le Monde' - that he was ready to go to prison if that means Bin-Ali will free the judiciary.
The Tunisian Lawyers' Council and the Tunisian Association for Young Lawyers announced on Monday their support of Yahyawi.
The French 'Liberation' described the state's official reaction to Yahyawi's democratic demands as an impediment to Bin-Ali's upcoming nomination for a fourth term of office.
The state's position only helps bolster Tunisian opposition that has already announced that Bin-Ali's nomination for a fourth term of office is a flagrant violation of the Tunisian constitution.
Ali came to office in 1987. He ruled with a hard line against Islamic activists, but inherited an economically stable country.
Despite introducing press freedoms and freeing some political prisoners, human rights groups have been critical of the government's treatment of its opponents. Ali faces reproach at home and abroad for the "99.9 per cent" his party has consistently won in elections, most recently the presidential poll in October 1999.
President Ben Ali was re-elected for a third term in the first pluralist presidential elections on 24th October 1999.
According to the BBC online archives, he was born on 3rd September 1936 in Hammam Sousse. He was Tunisia's ambassador in Warsaw in 1980 and prime minister in October 1987.
