DAMASCUS - More than 40 sacked judges held a sit-in demonstration on Sunday near the Rawda presidential palace in the Syrian capital demanding their rehiring, a human rights activist said. “About 45 judges gathered this morning near the Rawda palace in order to demand the canceling of the decree” issued by President Bashar Al-Assad last October, the activist told AFP on condition of anonymity.
At the time, Assad fired 81 judges and increased wages for the judiciary as part of a programme of intended legal reforms.
'Reform' and 'Assad' just don't seem to go together, do they. | The dismissals were reported in the state-run Ath-Thawra newspaper, but no reason was given. SyriaÂ’s premier human rights activist and lawyer Anwar Bunni criticised the firing of judges as undermining the independence of the courts. |