Thursday, April 07, 2011

DAMASCUS: Syrian lawmakers plan to adopt major reforms in May, including an end to emergency rule, a politician close to the regime said Wednesday, as Syria lifted a ban on teachers wearing the full face veil and ordered the closure of the country’s only casino.

“There will be an extraordinary [Parliament] session from May 2 to 6 in which social and political laws will be adopted in line with the reforms desired by the head of state,” the politician told AFP.

“Among them is new legislation that will replace the current emergency law,” he said, adding that the proposed bill would be presented to the head of state before the end of the week, well ahead of an April 25 deadline.
According to the same source, Syrian President Bashar Assad “intends to ask members of civil society for their input and then the government will adopt the draft law to present it to Parliament in early May.”

The lifting of emergency powers, in force since 1963 when the Baath party took power, has been a central demand of anti-government protesters who have been calling for political reform and more freedoms since mid-March.
It imposes restrictions on public gatherings and movements, authorizes the detention and interrogation of any individual, as well as the surveillance of communications and pre-publication control of news and other media.

The politician did not specify whether laws governing the formation of political parties and media would be reviewed in the extraordinary session but MP Ahmad Munir confirmed that the session would take place.
“In general, they last only one day. But, since this time we have been called in for five days, it is an indicator there will be draft laws to study and adopt,” he said, adding the reforms would be published by state media.

Wednesday’s decisions to lift the ban on teachers wearing the Islamic veil and the closure of the casino are aimed at assuaging religious conservatives in the majority Sunni country, where the ruling hierarchy is of the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
Caretaker Education Minister Ali Saad said the ministry had decided to allow teachers wearing the niqab to return to work, according to state news agency SANA.

Assad had imposed the ban on the niqab last year. Hundreds of primary school teachers who were wearing the niqab at government-run schools were transferred in June to administrative jobs, angering conservative Muslims.
Syria’s Tishreen newspaper also reported the closure of the country’s only casino because “those who attended the casino were engaging in unlawful acts.”

Assad said Wednesday his country could benefit from other countries’ experiences, especially Turkey, in drawing up reforms. Assad spoke during a meeting with visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Davutoglu voiced his country’s backing for the Syrian government reform package when he met Assad.
A government statement afterward said the Turkish minister offered to “render every possible help” from Turkey to accelerate reforms in Syria.

Last month pro-democracy protests erupted in the majority Sunni city of Daraa and later spread to other cities, including the religiously mixed port city of Latakia.
Thousands of people protested in the Damascus suburb of Douma Friday, dissatisfied by gestures Assad has made toward reform.
Syrian activists called for fresh demonstrations Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to honor over 80 people killed in the crackdown on the protests.

In Daraa, shops remained closed Wednesday for a second day, according to a human rights activist.
Six Syrian rights groups said Wednesday that judicial authorities have ordered the release of 48 people who were detained last year in the northern city of Raqqah after they threw stones at Syrian police who ordered Kurds celebrating their new year to replace their ethnic flags with Syrian ones.

The move appears to be another step by Assad’s government to pacify the country’s Kurdish minority of 1.5 million that has long complained of discrimination. – Agencies