The police detained Bechir Akremi and Tayeb Rached, who were among the dozens of judges and members of the judiciary sacked in 2022, a lawyer close to the cases told the Reuters news agency.

The arrests of the ex-judges on Sunday came on the second day of a wave of detentions of prominent people, amid growing concerns over pollical freedoms in the country.

On Saturday, the police arrested prominent politicians and a politically connected businessman.

The arrests were reportedly based on suspicion of conspiracy against state security.

The president was accused of a power grab after shutting down parliament in 2021 before taking control of the judiciary and pushing through a new constitution that gave his office almost unlimited powers.