An article on al-Jazeera's website explains why optimism about the proposed lifting of Syria's state of emergency is misplaced: it will make little or no difference:

"Many of the draconian charges on which opponents of the regime are routinely imprisoned exist either within the Penal Code itself or as special laws or articles in the constitution, and courtesy [of] them, Syria would continue to be run as a virtual police state."

The article quotes a report in al-Watan newspaper (owned by the president's corrupt cousin, Rami Makhlouf) saying there are no moves to replace the emergency with an anti-terrorism law because "the special articles contained in the Syrian penal code related to terrorism are sufficient".

The article continues:

"Also unaffected will be Law 49, making membership of the Muslim Brotherhood a crime punishable by death, and certain articles of Syria's Constitution - written in 1973, a decade after the declaration of emergency law - such as Article 8 which gives the Baath Party the right to be 'the leading party of state and society'.

"A law protecting the Baath Party revolution, passed in 1965, will also be unchanged by the lifting of emergency laws, meaning citizens can still be imprisoned on charges of 'working against the goals of the revolution'.

"The legal right of the Baath Party Regional Command to nominate candidates for president also remains unchanged."

According to a former judge, all 15 branches of the security services will retain their immunity from prosecution, even after the emergency is lifted. Their immunity derives from a decree issued by President Assad in 2008.

As an example of how the police state will be unaffected by lifting the emergency, the article points out that dissidents who signed the Damascus Declaration were jailed in 2005 on charges of "weakening national sentiment", "belonging to a secret society" and "spreading false news" – all of which will continue to be crimes under the penal code, regardless of the state of emergency.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 21 April 2011