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Syria releases over 1,000 political prisonersNovember 16, 2011 01:34 AMBy Daily Star Staff
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2011/Nov-16/154231-syria-releases-over-1000-political-prisoners.ashx#ixzz1dprSdqP1
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
| Agencies |
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| Saudi Arabia's Prince Turki Al Faisal speaks during a press conference November 15, 2011 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. |
BEIRUT: Syria freed more than 1,000 prisoners Tuesday in an apparent last-ditch effort to placate Arab leaders ahead of an Arab League meeting expected to officially suspend Syria from the Arab League.
Arab foreign ministers arrived in the Moroccan capital Tuesday for talks to discuss the Syrian crisis, on the sidelines of an Arab-Turkish summit, after the League voted Saturday to suspend Syria from meetings – effective Wednesday – for failing to implement a Nov. 2 pledge to pull the military out of restive cities, free political prisoners and start talks with the opposition and introduce democratic freedoms.
Syria responded by asking for an emergency Arab League summit to discuss the country’s spiraling political unrest. But that meeting seemed unlikely to take place, when a bloc of Gulf nations Tuesday rejected the request.
The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council said Arab foreign ministers are already holding talks to prepare for Wednesday’s meeting. The call for a summit needs backing from 15 of the League’s 22 members.
Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri Tuesday said “Syrian colleagues” would be welcome to attend the meeting, but did not specify whether Syria’s foreign minister could take part.
A Moroccan Foreign Ministry spokesman later said that when the minister said Syrian colleagues were welcome, he was referring not to the Arab League meeting but to bilateral ties, as Rabat still has diplomatic ties with Syria.
Syrian state media, SANA, later reported Syria would not attend the two Arab League meetings, but it was unclear whether officials would be attending the Turkish Arab summit. It also reported Tuesday 1,180 detainees “involved in the recent events … and didn’t commit murder” were released.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II called Monday for President Bashar Assad to stand down. A senior Saudi prince echoed those calls Tuesday, saying Assad’s refusal to halt his government’s violence against its own people has made his departure inevitable.
Prince Turki al-Faisal, the former chief of Saudi intelligence services, said, “It’s inevitable that he will have to step down in one form or another.”
He added that Saudi Arabia and its partners in the Gulf first brought Libya to the Arab League in March.
“Whether the Arab League will go that route [on Syria], I really can’t say, but it is an option and it has been practiced by the Arab League,” he said.
Anger mounted after a spate of alleged state-sanctioned attacks on Turkish, Qatari and Saudi embassies and consulates across Syria in response to the Arab League decision.
The White House Tuesday urged Arab leaders to send a “forceful message to Assad” in Morocco. “We look for the Arab League tomorrow to again send a forceful message to Assad that he needs to allow for a democratic transition to take place and to end the violence against his people,” said State Department spokesman Mark Toner. While the League’s decision is a hugely symbolic blow to Syria the question of whether it would lead to a Libyan-style intervention remained unlikely.
Russia, which supplies arms to Syria, has taken a firm stand in opposition to the West on Syria after voicing anger over NATO airstrikes that helped Libyan rebels oust Moammar Gadhafi.
Syria’s fragmented opposition is also divided on key issues of foreign intervention, use of force and conditions for dialogue, but appears to have been bolstered by the League’s invitation to join talks in Cairo.
Syrian National Council head Burhan Ghalioun, who met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Tuesday in Moscow, said dialogue would not work without sufficient pressure on Assad. “Progress on the road to peaceful negotiations … should start with the international community and Arab countries and Russia asking President Assad to resign for Syria to enter a new era,” Ghalioun added.
Violence has spiked in the lead up to the Rabat meeting. As many as 90 people were reported killed across the country Monday, according to sources including British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Local Coordination Committees activist coalition and morgue officials.
Arab foreign ministers arrived in the Moroccan capital Tuesday for talks to discuss the Syrian crisis, on the sidelines of an Arab-Turkish summit, after the League voted Saturday to suspend Syria from meetings – effective Wednesday – for failing to implement a Nov. 2 pledge to pull the military out of restive cities, free political prisoners and start talks with the opposition and introduce democratic freedoms.
Syria responded by asking for an emergency Arab League summit to discuss the country’s spiraling political unrest. But that meeting seemed unlikely to take place, when a bloc of Gulf nations Tuesday rejected the request.
The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council said Arab foreign ministers are already holding talks to prepare for Wednesday’s meeting. The call for a summit needs backing from 15 of the League’s 22 members.
Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri Tuesday said “Syrian colleagues” would be welcome to attend the meeting, but did not specify whether Syria’s foreign minister could take part.
A Moroccan Foreign Ministry spokesman later said that when the minister said Syrian colleagues were welcome, he was referring not to the Arab League meeting but to bilateral ties, as Rabat still has diplomatic ties with Syria.
Syrian state media, SANA, later reported Syria would not attend the two Arab League meetings, but it was unclear whether officials would be attending the Turkish Arab summit. It also reported Tuesday 1,180 detainees “involved in the recent events … and didn’t commit murder” were released.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II called Monday for President Bashar Assad to stand down. A senior Saudi prince echoed those calls Tuesday, saying Assad’s refusal to halt his government’s violence against its own people has made his departure inevitable.
Prince Turki al-Faisal, the former chief of Saudi intelligence services, said, “It’s inevitable that he will have to step down in one form or another.”
He added that Saudi Arabia and its partners in the Gulf first brought Libya to the Arab League in March.
“Whether the Arab League will go that route [on Syria], I really can’t say, but it is an option and it has been practiced by the Arab League,” he said.
Anger mounted after a spate of alleged state-sanctioned attacks on Turkish, Qatari and Saudi embassies and consulates across Syria in response to the Arab League decision.
The White House Tuesday urged Arab leaders to send a “forceful message to Assad” in Morocco. “We look for the Arab League tomorrow to again send a forceful message to Assad that he needs to allow for a democratic transition to take place and to end the violence against his people,” said State Department spokesman Mark Toner. While the League’s decision is a hugely symbolic blow to Syria the question of whether it would lead to a Libyan-style intervention remained unlikely.
Russia, which supplies arms to Syria, has taken a firm stand in opposition to the West on Syria after voicing anger over NATO airstrikes that helped Libyan rebels oust Moammar Gadhafi.
Syria’s fragmented opposition is also divided on key issues of foreign intervention, use of force and conditions for dialogue, but appears to have been bolstered by the League’s invitation to join talks in Cairo.
Syrian National Council head Burhan Ghalioun, who met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Tuesday in Moscow, said dialogue would not work without sufficient pressure on Assad. “Progress on the road to peaceful negotiations … should start with the international community and Arab countries and Russia asking President Assad to resign for Syria to enter a new era,” Ghalioun added.
Violence has spiked in the lead up to the Rabat meeting. As many as 90 people were reported killed across the country Monday, according to sources including British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Local Coordination Committees activist coalition and morgue officials.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2011/Nov-16/154231-syria-releases-over-1000-political-prisoners.ashx#ixzz1dprSdqP1
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
