Syria to lift emergency law

[pampango]

Source: Aljazeera

President Assad says emergency laws to be abolished within a week and pledges further reforms.

Syria's president has said he expects his government to lift the decades-old emergency law next week. Bashar al-Assad also pledged further reforms in a televised speech to his new cabinet after it was sworn in on Saturday.

"The juridical commission on the emergency law has prepared a series of proposals for new legislation, and these proposals will be submitted to the government, which will issue a new law within a week at the most," he said.

Lifting the 48-year-old state of emergency has been a key demand during a wave of protests over the past month. The emergency law gives the regime a free hand to arrest people without charge and extends the state's authority into virtually every aspect of Syrians' lives.

While pledging dialogue with unions and a number of reforms, he maintained that stability is his top priority. "We do not want to be hasty. Any reforms have to be based on maintaining internal stability," he said.

Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/20114161511286268.html

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That's a step in the right direction. Will be interesting to see if there can be gradual change for the better in some countries during this Arab Spring or whether each revolution will have to totally succeed or fail with no in-between.

[dipsydoodle]

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