Syria puts reform on the agenda amid calls for justice
Sammy Ketz
DAMASCUS, Sammy Ketz- Syrian lawmakers plan to adopt major reforms in May, including an end to emergency rule, a politician close to the regime said on Wednesday, as rights bodies called for a probe into protest deaths.
"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.
According to the same source, Syrian President Bashar al-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, authorises the detention and interrogation of any individual, as well as the surveillance of personal 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.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch and six Syrian right watchdogs called on the authorities to investigate the fatal shooting of protesters in Douma, near Damascus, and bring the perpetrators to justice.
New-York based Human Rights Watch called on Assad to "immediately order Syrian security forces to stop using unjustified lethal force against anti-government protesters".
"For three weeks, Syria's security forces have been firing on largely peaceful protesters," said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East director.
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) in Paris has said 123 people were killed in anti-government demonstrations up to Friday April 1, when unrest struck Douma, a suburb north of Damascus.
At least eight people, but perhaps as many as 15, were killed that Friday in Douma when men in civilian clothes, suspected by witnesses of being from the security services, opened fire at demonstrators, HRW said.
Protesters in Douma cited by HRW said they were chanting "peaceful, peaceful" when clashes broke out with riot police who resorted to tear gas and beating demonstrators in an effort to snuff out the Friday rally.
After two hours of confrontations, men in civilian clothes, whom protesters believed to be security service officers because they were positioned behind riot police, opened fired with Kalashnikovs at stone-throwing demonstrators.
An unnamed official told the official SANA news agency that an unknown "armed group" shot at both protesters and security forces from rooftops but provided no details about injuries to security forces.
"Instead of investigating those responsible for shootings, officials try to deflect responsibility by accusing unknown armed groups," Whitson said.
The rights body called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to "schedule a special session to address rights violations in Syria, including the unlawful use of force against demonstrators."
It also called on the Syrian president to set up a committee to investigate the shootings in Douma, as he did for the killings of protesters in the cities of Daraa and Latakia, and to hold those responsible to account.
"The government should investigate each shooting, and hold accountable anyone responsible for the unlawful use of force," said the rights group.
Six Syrian rights organisations said Wednesday in a joint statement they favoured forming a neutral investigative committee that includes human rights activists to identify the perpetrators of violence and bring them to justice.
In the southern agricultural town of Daraa, where dozens were killed and wounded in more than two weeks of anti-regime protests, shops remained closed for a second consecutive day, according to a human rights activist.
He said that Syrian authorities had distributed financial compensation of one million syrian pounds (21,000 dollars, or 14,700 euros) to the family of "each martyr" fallen during political unrest.
"Some accepted but the majority refused," he said.
The Syrian Organisation for Human Rights meanwhile raised the alarm on security crackdowns targetting the local press, saying 14 journalists have been arrested since the start of unrest, adding eight of them are still behind bars.
"Syrian media is in danger. Since the start of protests, no media, no journalist has escaped the hysterical arrest campaign based on emergency law," the rights monitor said.
In Damascus, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu voiced his country's backing for a Syrian government reform package on Wednesday when he met President Assad.
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