Syria Moves To End Emergency Rule

The Washington Post reports:

CAIRO — The Syrian government, in a gesture to protesters who have shaken the country for the past 13 days, announced Thursday that it will draw up new anti-terrorism legislation as a first step toward lifting the country’s 48-year-old emergency rule.

The announcement, relayed by the official Syrian Arab News Agency and national television, seemed designed to soften the impact of President Bashar al-Assad’s stiff speech Wednesday in which he offered no concessions and blamed the pro-democracy demonstrations on conspirators out to undermine Syria’s strength as an Arab leader on the front lines against Israel.

The government also appeared intent on reducing enthusiasm for another round of protests called for Friday by an informal network of human rights activists. Inspired by revolts across the Arab world, the protesters have demanded that Assad expand democratic freedoms for Syria’s 23 million people.

Activists denounced the announcement as a ploy, suggesting that Assad is only offering to replace one set of repressive laws with another, baptized this time as anti-terrorism. “Under the emergency laws we were conspirators. Under the terrorism law we will be terrorists, and the role of the security apparatus will stay the same,” said Razan Zeitoneh, a Syrian human rights lawyer.

“This is not significant,” said Ammar Qurabi, the Cairo-based head of the Syrian National Organization for Human Rights. “It would take just one minute to reverse the emergency law. They are just trying to find something to replace the emergency law. Anyway, people are not interested in a law. People are interested in what the security forces are doing on the ground.”

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