Syria's Cabinet approved a "draft decree" to abolish the country's notorious state of emergency law as another day of clashes erupted in the simmering country's heartland, the country's media reported Tuesday.
The move is among several made by Syria's recently appointed Council of Ministers. The moves were announced after three or four protesters were killed and many others were wounded in Homs when security forces assaulted activists, a human rights activist and a witness told CNN on Tuesday.
Al-Assad, who has been promising reforms for years, has indicated that he is amenable to making changes demanded by demonstrators. On Saturday, al-Assad urged his new Cabinet to lift the country's state of emergency, which has been in effect since 1963.
The opposition in Syria has made many demands, including the repeal of the emergency law, which allows the government to make preventive arrests and override constitutional and penal code statutes. The law also bars detainees who haven't been charged from filing court complaints or from having a lawyer present during interrogations.
Activists have said that the regime's security forces have ruthlessly broken up peaceful protests despite talk of reform.
The 37-year-old witness in Homs echoed the activist: "We will continue our protests, we will bring down the regime and the allegations by the regime that we are Muslim Brotherhood and extremists are all lies ... We are not armed, we are the people of Syria, and we will continue our protests."
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/04/19/syria.unrest/index.html
~~~ Joe Kamper
~~~ Section 16199
I read an article on the New York Times in which it mentioned that some of the activist in Syria wish to replicate "replicate the experience of Tahrir Square in Cairo." It is interesting to see how the Tunisia and Egypt revolutions seem to have started a domino effect in the Africa as well as West Asia. What is most interesting however is seeing the leaders are also acting as the debunked leaders did, as stated in this quote "Since the uprising began, the government has vacillated between crackdown and suggestions of compromise, a formula that proved disastrous for strongmen in Tunisia and Egypt. "
ReplyDeletelink to NYT article http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/20/world/middleeast/20syria.html?_r=1&scp=4&sq=syria&st=cse
Iliana Miranda
Armel 10am