Haaretz reports:
Syrian President Bashar Assad said Saturday he expects the government to lift a state of emergency that has been in effect for nearly 50 years, a key demand by a month-long protest movement that has posed the most serious challenge to the country’s authoritarian regime.
In his second public appearance since the protests began, President Bashar Assad warned there will no longer be “an excuse” for organizing protests after Syria lifts the emergency laws and implements reforms.
“After that we will not tolerate any attempt at sabotage,” he told the newly formed Cabinet in a televised address.
In other words:
Syria’s widely despised emergency laws have been in place since the 1960s, giving the regime a free hand to arrest people without charge and extending state authority into virtually every aspect of Syrians’ lives.
Given Assad’s record of unfulfilled promises, I am sure Syrians will believe it when it happens. And even if he does officially scrap the emergency laws, will this usher in a new era of freedom, human rights and democracy? Syrians have a right to be skeptical.
