Assad Regime Lifts Emergency Law in Syria after Latest Protester Deaths

A Syrian woman living in Jordan carries a banner against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and shouts slogans during a demonstration in front of the Syrian embassy in Amman, Jordan, on 17 April 2011 EPA/BGNES

The regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has passed a bill lifting the country's emergency law, in place for 48 years, just hours after security forces fired on protesters.

Tuesday's move is a key demand of pro-reform demonstrators who have been holding protests across the country for weeks.

Some 50 000 people rallied for an anti-government protest in Syria's capital Damascus last Friday protesting against Assad's rule and demanding freedom. Another 10 000 gathered in the restless city of Daraa; there were also rallies in some other locations after the Friday Muslim prayers. The previous Friday at least 37 people were killed in skirmishes resulting from protest rallies.

According to the Syrian government, the protests originate with armed extremists, and not with the security forces. According to Syrian pro-democracy groups, some 200 people have been killed in the country as the protest movement has been gaining momentum over the past month.

A senior lawyer said Bashar al-Assad, Syria's president, was yet to sign the legislation, but that his signature was a formality, Al Jazeera reported.

Al Jazeera further cites Syria's official SANA news agency the government also abolished the state security court, which handled the trials of political prisoners, and approved a new law allowing the right to peaceful protests.

However the interior ministry also passed a law that says citizens must obtain permission to demonstrate, the agency said, hours after the ministry imposed a total ban on political gatherings.

Syria's emergency law gave the government a free hand to arrest people without charge and extended the state's authority into virtually every aspect of citizens' lives.

According to Cal Perry, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Damascus, the three steps were a major concession to protesters.

"The people on the ground here really wanted to see not only that court dissolved but also the state of emergency lifted because of these abitrary detentions, as they would put it. But the government is certainly going to draw a line between what they call peaceful protesting and an armed insurrection," the Al Jazeera correspondent said.

Hours before the decision, security forces had fired on protesters in the city of Hom, killing at least six people.

Rights groups say that more than 200 people have been killed in the protests which started in the southern city of Daraa one month ago, inspired by uprisings gripping Arab nations.