Syrian president orders study into ending emergency laws
The Syrian president has ordered that a legal committee be set up to study the possibility of abolishing the country’s hated emergency laws that have been in place since 1963.
The report on state TV says President Bashar Assad ordered the formation of the committee today.
It says the committee would have to complete its study by April 25.
The development comes a day after Assad dashed expectations that he would announce sweeping reforms, including the lifting of the decades-long state of emergency, and instead took a tough line and blamed two weeks of popular protest that has gripped Syria on a foreign conspiracy.
The move may be an attempt to show the leader of one of Middle East’s most autocratic regimes as wanting to guide the speed of reforms at his own pace.
The laws give the regime a free hand to arrest people without charge.
Anti-government protests erupted on March 18 in a southern city and expanded across Syria, drawing a brutal crackdown in the worst unrest in decades.
Human Rights Watch says more than 60 people have died in the violence.
