Muslim Brotherhood Urges Syria Freedoms

Wednesday, 06 April 2011

Damascus – While condemning the excessive use against protesters demanding more freedoms, Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood reiterated support for popular protests for democratic changes in the Arab country.

“The Muslim Brotherhood reiterates its full support for the uprising and demands of the Syrian youths for freedom, dignity and better living conditions,” the group said in a statement obtained by OnIslam.net on Wednesday, April 6.

Syria has been drawn over the past month into a wave of youth-led massive protests that have been sweeping the Middle East since the beginning of the year.

Protesters have called for an end to the emergency law, imposed after the 1963 coup which elevated Assad's Baath Party to power.

At least 60 people have been killed in the protests.

“We see an excessive use of force, the application of tough measures and violation of human rights enshrined in laws and agreements,” the Muslim Brotherhood said.

“We see insistence from the regime to go far with this bloodshed.”

Last month, Syrian officials accused Islamists of orchestrating the unrest with the aim of to destroy Syria’s “religious coexistence”.

Syria's Muslim Brotherhood has been outlawed since the secular Baath party seized power in 1963.

The group led a revolt in Syria in1982, prompting the government to launch a bloody crackdown on the town of Hama, leaving tens of thousands of people dead.

The majority of Syria's 22.5 million population are Sunni Muslims. The country is also home to Christians and a minority Alawite Muslim community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, which controls the ruling Baath party for close to 50 years.

The Brotherhood rejected accusations that the uprising was a “conspiracy” to harm the country’s social fabric.

“The group denounces all statements which aim to tarnish this glorious uprising by describing it as sedition and conspiracy plots.”

Last month, Syrian President Bashar Assad blamed foreign and domestic "conspirators" for being behind the unrest.

More Freedoms

The Muslim Brotherhood called on the Syrian government to take urgent steps to fulfill the popular aspirations for more freedoms.

“The opportunity is still open to declare a national initiative to close ranks and join hands,” the group said in the statement.

“This initiative should not be based on promises, but rather on effective practical steps.”

The opposition group said freedoms and democracy do not need “promises, studies or committees” in reference to a decision by Assad to form a legal committee to study lifting the emergency law and his promises of reform.

It called for lifting media censorship and respecting the rights of speech and gathering.

It also called for releasing all political prisoners as well as all prisoners of conscience.

Among the demands listed in the statement were also allowing exiled figures to return back home and nullifying a notorious 1980 law that sentences to death any one proven affiliate to the Muslim Brotherhood.

“These urgent measures will give credibility to the promises of reform and help create a favorable environment for constructive dialogue.”

Source: OnIslam.
Link: http://onislam.net/english/news/middle-east/451750-syria-brothers-back-uprising-urge-freedoms.html.