Damascus heads for elections, arresting opponents and tightening media controls
Damascus (AsiaNews) – Members of human rights groups arrested, “suspected” political personalities summoned by police, more internet restrictions, and bans on meeting and travel. Syria is gearing up for elections three times over: a political poll at the end of March, an administrative ballot in autumn and then a referendum – the date is unclear – which will be a “national and political opportunity to express backing for the policy” of President Bachar al-Assad.
Theoretically, these are significant dates, especially the last, which as protagonist the man who has run the country since 11 July 2000 when he took over from his father, Hafez, president of Syria from 1970 until his death. The consequent rise of the young Bachar was welcomed with cautious hope of possible openings in a country governed by the same party, the Baas, since 1963. But the Baas, a secular and vaguely Socialist party, and its allies are the only ones to be in a fully legal position. Repeated calls to legalize other parties, especially the six gathered in the National Democratic Union, have fallen on deaf ears. They continue to be merely “tolerated”.
Sweeping to power as the only candidate with a majority of 97.3% of votes, Bachar al-Assad sought to follow the policy of cynical equilibrium pursued by his father, throwing in occasional gestures of openness that served to raise the hopes of the opposition. These dreams have been dashed largely by the economic crisis that the regime has found itself in and especially by the outcome of charges of political involvement in the assassination attack that claimed the lives of the former Lebanese premier, Rafic Hariri and 22 other people on 14 February 2005. The downfall of the regime was speculated after it was forced by international pressure to withdraw Syrian troops from Lebanon, where they had been stationed for 29 years – paving the way for a de facto protectorate with significant repercussions, not least economic. This scenario became ever more likely with a UN Commission of Inquiry into the Hariri assassination, with investigations reaching top security officials and the family entourage of the president.
In March last year, the “National Salvation Front” was born in Belgium, set up by the former deputy president of Syria, Abdul Halim Khaddam, and the head of the Muslim Brothers, Bayanouni, with the aim of achieving the peaceful overthrow of the regime of President Assad.
In this picture, both the political poll – that will be predictably boycotted by the opposition and hence hand over the umpteenth victory to Baas and its allies – and the announced referendum appear to be a reaction on the home front.
At home, in the aftermath of the Lebanese affair, in June 2005, the Baas party had mulled possible reforms regarding legalization of parties and press freedom. Consequent international pressure, depicted as an “American threat” provoked instead the renewal of a state of emergency in force since 1963.
Under the pretext of security, political activists have been arrested. Three of the ten signatories of the “Damascus-Beirut declaration” are still in jail. In May 2006, this declaration called for a change in relations with Lebanon and a peaceful end to the regime. For supporting this document, in June, 17 high-ranking state officials were removed from their post. The Association for the Defence of Human Rights in Syria revealed that on 5 March the trial against Michel Kilo, an author in prison since May 2006, was reopened. He is in jail for having published an article on the same topic and is charged with “weakening national sentiment”.
According to sources that could not be confirmed, there are around 20,000 political prisoners in Syria. A protest against “arbitrary arrest”and a request to free political prisoners made last May by Austria, in its capacity as president of the European Union, drew a polemical response from Damascus. Recently, interviewed by ABC, Assad responded to a question about political prisoners by saying “this type of prisoner does not exist. In Syria, we have two types of convicts: those who are implicated in terrorist attacks and those who have violated the law.”
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