US pressure is helping the internal push to reform Syria --nice!!
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Syrian intellectuals urge reform
Assad under growing pressure to implement political reforms
A group of 700 Syrian intellectuals is calling on President Bashar al-Assad to implement political reforms.
The group has collected signatures from writers and lawyers for a petition calling on the authorities to lift the country's state of emergency.
It says the state of emergency, that has been in place for 40 years, has led to the paralysis of Syrian society.
It hopes the petition will have more than 1m signatures by the time it is presented to the government next month.
The petition will be handed to the government on 8 March, the anniversary of the ruling Baath party's rise to power.
The group of intellectuals are also calling for the release of all political prisoners.
Last month, President Assad released more than 100 political prisoners and he freed more than 600 prisoners in 2000.
This is not the first time that Syrian intellectuals have presented a petition calling for political reform.
Previous petitions have all been ignored, but Syrian democracy activists say this time the situation is different.
For the past year, Syria has been under an intense American spotlight.
The Syria Accountability Act, recently passed by the US Congress, imposed sanctions on Damascus for alleged links to terrorism and for seeking to obtain weapons of mass destruction.
The Syrian activists say they are hoping the regime may have realised that reform and national reconciliation are an important defence against American pressures.
(from BBC)
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Syrian intellectuals urge reform
Assad under growing pressure to implement political reforms
A group of 700 Syrian intellectuals is calling on President Bashar al-Assad to implement political reforms.
The group has collected signatures from writers and lawyers for a petition calling on the authorities to lift the country's state of emergency.
It says the state of emergency, that has been in place for 40 years, has led to the paralysis of Syrian society.
It hopes the petition will have more than 1m signatures by the time it is presented to the government next month.
The petition will be handed to the government on 8 March, the anniversary of the ruling Baath party's rise to power.
The group of intellectuals are also calling for the release of all political prisoners.
Last month, President Assad released more than 100 political prisoners and he freed more than 600 prisoners in 2000.
This is not the first time that Syrian intellectuals have presented a petition calling for political reform.
Previous petitions have all been ignored, but Syrian democracy activists say this time the situation is different.
For the past year, Syria has been under an intense American spotlight.
The Syria Accountability Act, recently passed by the US Congress, imposed sanctions on Damascus for alleged links to terrorism and for seeking to obtain weapons of mass destruction.
The Syrian activists say they are hoping the regime may have realised that reform and national reconciliation are an important defence against American pressures.
(from BBC)