Syria’s Assad vows to lift emergency law by next week

AMMAN, (Reuters) – President Bashar al-Assad said  today emergency law in place for almost 50 years in Syria  would be lifted by next week but ignored popular demands to curb  the security apparatus and dismantle its authoritarian system.
Assad, facing unprecedented pressure for democratic reform,  had earlier pledged to replace the repressive emergency law with  anti-terrorism legislation, but opposition figures said this was  likely to preserve tough restrictions on freedom of speech and  assembly in Syria, under monolithic Baath Party rule since 1963.
“Next week is the maximum (time) limit for completion of  these laws regarding the lifting of the state of emergency,”  Assad said in a speech to a new cabinet he named last week  broadcast by Syrian state television.
“When the lifting of the emergency law package is issued, it  should be firmly enforced. The Syrian people are civilised. They  love order and they do not accept chaos and mob rule,” he said.
“We will not be lenient toward sabotage,” Assad said in a  speech to a new cabinet he named last week. Syrian authorities  have blamed “infiltrators” for stirring up unrest at the behest  of outside players, including Lebanon and Islamist groups.
Emergency law bans public gatherings of more than five  people and served to throttle any public dissent until Syrians  began taking to the streets a month ago, inspired by popular  uprisings that ousted autocratic leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.
Assad, 45, who took office in 2000 upon the death of his  father Hafez al-Assad, who ruled for 30 years, said stability  remained his priority but reform was needed to “strengthen the  internal front”.
But he did not mention the main demands of tens of thousands  of protesters, namely to end the tight grip of security services  on everyday life, release thousands of long serving political  prisoners, most of whom have been held without trial, and do  away with a clause in Syria’s constitution that enshrines the  Baath Party as “leader of the state and society”.
“We do not want to be hasty. Any reforms have to be based on  maintaining internal stability,” Assad said.