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Tunisia’s President Dissolves Suspended Parliament

Tunisian President Kais Saied (AP)
Tunisian President Kais Saied (AP)
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Tunisia’s President Dissolves Suspended Parliament

Tunisian President Kais Saied (AP)
Tunisian President Kais Saied (AP)

Tunisian President Kais Saied dissolved parliament on Wednesday, months after suspending it.

Following a meeting with the national security council, Saied announced that he had ordered the Minister of Justice to call on the attorney general to take action after the virtual plenary session of the suspended parliament.

Despite the chamber's suspension, over 120 lawmakers held an online meeting Wednesday, voting against the "exceptional measures" Saied has used since July.

Before the session, the legislators confirmed that they would move forward with holding the first plenary session since last summer, expecting over half of the members of parliament to participate in the session to vote against the "exceptional measures."

On Monday, the President issued a stern warning to parliamentarians that forces and institutions would act against "those who push the people into internal fighting."

MP Yamina Zoghlami asserted that the session would carry on, saying: "We are not afraid to defend a legitimate institution," and the people "did not withdraw their confidence."

Several political parties criticized Speaker Rached Ghannouchi after he called for a session of the suspended parliament, citing fears of turmoil and political division in the country.

The parliament's office created a new Facebook page named "the Assembly of the Representatives of the People" to announce the plenary session after the Presidency blocked the official page following the announcement of exceptional measures in the summer.

Constitutional law professor Rabeh Kharaifi said the public prosecution might question the MPs who participated in the session, and subject them to sentences ranging from five years to life imprisonment.

They could be accused of threatening internal peace and assaulting state security, he added.

The Ennhada movement office revealed that the 11th electoral conference would be organized in October to elect a new leader to succeed Ghannouchi, who confirmed that he was not running for the post again.

In 2020, a group of Ennahda leaders sent a letter to Ghannouchi asking him not to seek another term, and not to revise Chapter 31 of the party's bylaws to allow new members to lead the party.

The document was signed by 100 Ennahda figures, including members of the Shura Council, the Executive Office, the Parliamentary bloc, and the party's central offices.

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Arab World

Syrians Celebrate a Month Since Assad’s Overthrow With Revolutionary Songs in Damascus

People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
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Syrians Celebrate a Month Since Assad’s Overthrow With Revolutionary Songs in Damascus

People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
People stand before the New Clock Tower along Quwatli Street in the center of the city of Homs in west-central Syria on January 8, 2025. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)

A packed concert hall in Damascus came alive this week with cheers as Wasfi Maasarani, a renowned singer and symbol of the Syrian uprising, performed in celebration of “Syria’s victory."
The concert Wednesday marked Maasarani’s return to Syria after 13 years of exile. While living in Los Angeles, Maasarani had continued to support Syria’s uprising through his music, touring the US and Europe, The Associated Press said.
The concert organized by the Molham Volunteering Team, a humanitarian organization founded by Syrian students, also marked a month since a lightning insurgency toppled former President Bashar Assad.
Revolutionary songs like those by Maasarani and Abdelbasset Sarout — a Syrian singer and activist who died in 2019 — played a key role in rallying Syrians during the nearly 14-year uprising-turned civil war starting in 2011.
Many opponents of Assad's rule, like Maasarani, had fled the country and were unsure if they would ever be able to come back.
In the dimly lit concert hall, the crowd’s phone lights flickered like stars, swaying in unison with the music as the audience sang along, some wiping away tears. The crowd cheered and whistled and many waved the new Syrian flag, the revolutionary flag marked by three stars. A banner held up in the hall read, “It is Syria the Great, not Syria the Assad.”
One of Maasarani's best known songs is “Jabeenak ’Ali w Ma Bintal,” which he first sang in 2012, addressing the Free Syrian Army. It was a coalition of defected Syrian military personnel and civilian fighters formed in 2011 to oppose Assad during the civil war.
“You free soldier, the Syrian eminence appears in his eyes, he refused to fire at his people, he refused the shame of the traitor army, long live you free army, protect my people and the revolutionaries,” the lyrics read.
Another banner in the audience read, “It is the revolution of the people and the people never fail.”
Between performances, Raed Saleh, the head of the civil defense organization known as the White Helmets, addressed the crowd, saying, “With this victory, we should not forget the families who never found their children in the prisons and detention centers.”
Thousands were tortured or disappeared under Assad’s government. After the fall of Assad, the White Helmets helped in the search for the missing.
After the concert, Maasarani told The Associated Press, “It’s like a dream” to return to Syria and perform his revolutionary songs.
“We were always singing them outside of Syria, experiencing the happy and sad moments from afar,” he said, adding that his role was to capture the atrocities on the ground through song, ensuring “they would be remembered in history.” He reflected on his years in exile and recalled surviving two assassination attempts before leaving Syria.
“We have not seen this state without Assad since I was born,” said Alaa Maham, a concert attendee who recently returned from the United Arab Emirates. “I cannot describe my feelings, I hope our happiness lasts.”
The future of Syria is still unclear, as the former insurgent group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, now the de facto ruling party, begins to form a new government and rebuild the country's institutions.
Whatever comes next, Maham said, “We got rid of the oppression and corruption with the fall of Assad and his family’s rule."