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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syria 'to lift emergency law' |
| 2011-03-28 |
| [Al Jazeera] A Syrian government adviser has confirmed to Al Jizz that the country's emergency law is to be lifted. Bouthaina Shaaban, an adviser to Bashir al-Assad, the Syrian president, told Al Jizz's Cal Perry in the capital, Damascus, ...The City of Jasminis the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... on Sunday that the law would "absolutely" be lifted, but failed to give a timetable. The repeal of the emergency law, in place since the 1963 coup that brought the Baath Party to power, has been a key demand of protesters who have taken to the streets in recent days to demand greater political freedoms. The emergency law imposes restrictions on public gatherings and movement and authorises the arrest of "suspects or persons who threaten security". It also authorises the interrogation of any individual and the surveillance of personal communication as well as official control of the content of newspapers and other media before publication. The state also announced a series of reforms, including the release of detainees and plans to form new laws on the media and licensing political parties. Shaaban added that there will be a debate in parliament regarding the establishment of political parties. "There are many issues which were decided, and which are being followed up with the president and the government," she said. Pressed on when reforms would be implemented, she said that "one or two steps in the implementation [of reforms]" would be announced within a week. Despite the week-long crackdown, Syria's government had pledged to consider reforms and has released dozens of political prisoners in an effort to defuse demonstrations. Al Jizz's Perry said the move to lift the emergency law would go some way towards appeasing the protesters' demands. "It will open up press freedom and political freedom. This is something that people have been calling for on the streets. Certainly it is a concession on the government's part," he said. Dozens of pro-reform protesters have been killed in festivities with security forces and government supporters in towns and cities across the country. Probe launch Shaaban also told Al Jizz that the government will launch an investigation into the violence that occurred in Sanamin. Meanwhile, ...back at the scene of the crime, Lieutenant Queeg had an idea... in the northeastern port of Latakia, the army has been deployed after festivities resulted in the deaths of at least three people. Rights groups however have claimed that the corpse count could be higher. Soldiers erupted into the streets of Latakia on Saturday night to help secret police and security forces control the port, residents said. The army also increased checkpoints around the southern city of Deraa, where Human Rights Watch says 61 people have died. "There is a feeling in Latakia that the presence of disciplined troops is necessary to keep order," one resident told Rooters news agency. "We do not want looting." Dozens of people have also died in protests in Deraa and in nearby Sanamin, Damascus and other towns over the last week. There have also been protests in Hama, a northern city where in 1982, the forces of president Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, killed thousands of people and razed much of the city's old quarter to surpress an armed uprising by Islamist fighters. The government blames gangs for setting off the recent bloodshed. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Lebanon doesn't now de facto belong to Hizb'allah and Iran, JosephM? What's left to deliver? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-03-28 23:46 |
| #1 See also WORLD NEWS > ASSAD'S FALL [Syria] COULD DELIVER LEBANON TO IRAN + HEZBOLLAH. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-03-28 01:35 |