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Syria Between Hope and Fear

Mona Alami

DAMASCUS, Mar 29 2011 (IPS) - Pro-democracy ‘Day of Dignity’ rallies in Syria have led to many casualties in recent days. Before real political reforms are introduced, many lines will be crossed, lives lost, and human rights discarded

“The regime has been rattled by protests, which have resulted in its use of certain (oppressive) means that will be counterproductive in the longer run,” says writer and former political prisoner Yassine Hajj Saleh.

According to the National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria (NOHR), Syrian security forces arrested, as of Mar. 22, 34 people in Daraa alone, over 49 people in Damascus and its suburbs, 10 in Hama, four in the city of Aleppo and two in Banyas. Many, however, are still unaccounted for.

The arrests were dovetailed by a rising death toll resulting from this week’s government crackdown on the demonstrations. Estimates of the number of dead vary greatly, with the government claiming 37 fatal casualties, Amnesty International putting the figure closer to 55 and activists reporting over 100.

The recent bloodshed presents a very grim picture for human rights organisations and activists in Syria. “Syria’s security forces are showing the same cruel disregard for protesters’ lives as their counterparts in Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Bahrain,” observed Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Amnesty International also said in a Mar. 24 press release that the Syrian government ordered security forces to attack protesters during the ongoing unrest.

“The violent oppression of the protests organised in Daraa and Lattakia is in contradiction with promises of reforms made by the regime,” says Abou Mohamad, a Daraa activist, whose last name has been omitted for the sake of anonymity.

In recent weeks, various reports indicated that Syria’s security forces used live ammunition against protesters in Daraa. Protests in Lattakia last Saturday are said to have also ended in two deaths after demonstrators were targeted by snipers.

In an effort to quell tensions, the government of Prime Minister Naji Otri resigned on Mar. 29, while Bouthaina Shaaban, adviser to the president declared that the emergency law, in place since 1963, will be lifted.

“Are things better today than under the rule of President Bashar al-Assad’s father (Hafez al-Assad) from a human rights standpoint? Yes and no,” answered Nadim Houry, the director of HRW in Beirut.

Bashar al-Assad took power in 2000 after the death of his father, who ruled Syria for over 20 years. “Today’s events are not comparable to the 1980s, which were an exceptional time period,” added Houry, referring to the 1982 Muslim Brotherhood uprising in Hama. In response to the riots, then president Hafez al-Assad sent in the army, crushing the insurrection and killing tens of thousands of people.

In addition to the brutal response from the Syrian security apparatus and the arrests of dozens of protesters, this month’s demonstrations have also resulted in the detainment of a number of writers and activists charged with inciting unrest.

Louay Hussein, a blogger known for his call for reforms, and Mazen Darwish, the head of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression in Syria, were both apprehended by police but then released amid increasing unrest. Syrian poet Mohmad Dibbo was also detained during a protest in the city of Banyas, according to NOHR.

Since Mar. 24, the government has released some 260 people, according to Al-Jazeera, in an attempt to quell the population’s anger at the recent killings.

Despite this move, Syria’s prisons are still filled with political prisoners, journalists, and human rights activists. In an interview with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), activist Haytham al Maleh called on the international community to exert pressure on the Syrian regime to respect their international commitments with regards to human rights.

“The Syrian regime has signed all international conventions, including the Arab Charter of Human Rights, which was adopted by the Arab League,” he told FIDH.

While no real information exists as to how many activists and opposition members are in Syrian prisons, Maleh stated that there were more than 4,000, while HRW says the figure is around 1,000, including opposition members. Abou Mohamad also underlined that many of the youth who had promoted the pro-democracy movement on Facebook were still unaccounted for.

“As one activist put it, ‘In the 1980s, people went to jail without trial. Now we get a trial, but we still go to jail,'” stated Houry. “Ten years into Bashar al-Assad’s rule, and the people’s initial hopes for more democracy and transparency remain unfulfilled.”

Many have argued that Assad has been unable to carry out the promises of reform made when he took power because of the political entrenchment of an “old guard” that refuses any political leniency.

Although no real reforms have been implemented thus far, the Syrian government has rushed to make economic changes in an effort to soothe the discord.

“Already the government has moved to create jobs by offering to pay for the first year’s salary of new hires in the public sector. An order has gone out to provide Stateless Kurds in the northeast with equal rights, which means they can go to secondary school and university and work legally. Also, the new VAT tax has been delayed indefinitely,” points out Joshua Landis, director of the Middle East Centre.

The country is still however in a situation of political crisis. Today tens of thousands of protestors rallied in Damascus in a show of support to the president while surrounding cities, where pro-democracy protests took place in previous days, remained calm.

“The demands for political reform of the pro-democracy protestors are legitimate. Whether the people respond to what President Assad will say tomorrow will certainly reflect on the mood of the population, after this coming Friday’s prayers,” points out Hajj Saleh.