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CAIRO (Islam Online) - Syria, long known for repressing the Muslim Brotherhood, may well witness a change in that respect. The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria said that Bashar, son of the late Syrian president Hafez Al Assad, is not to be held responsible for the bloody events that Syria saw in the early 80s. The late Assad had waged large-scale massacres in 1982 causing the death of at least 30,000 members of the Syrian Muslim Brothers in the Syrian town of "Hama". The leader of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, lawyer Ali Sadr Al din Al Bayanoni, told the London based Middle East Mirror "the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria oppose the way the constitution was hastily amended to pave the way for Bashar's takeover. Yet, we do not hold Bashar responsible for whatever happened in the past whether in Hama or in any other city." Al Bayanoni also said the chances of Bashar remaining in power seem high after a long preparation scheme through which his father re-shuffled various figures in the state apparatus to weaken the opposition against him. He noted that his group urged the state to make way for the return of democracy and public freedoms. The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood have been banned from Syrian political life since al Baa'th waged a coup d'etat in 1963. Al Bayanoni emphasized that during dialogues with the late president, the group saw that calling for the exiled Islamists to return was useless if they remained deprived from exercising political rights. The group, according to Al Bayanoni, has always focused on political rights and freedoms as top priorities. He suggested to the English publication several steps that could be taken by the new leadership to encourage openness. On top of the list was releasing thousands of political prisoners and detainees, granting amnesty to the exiled Muslim Brothers, and making political parties legal. Al Bayanoni also insisted that authorities repeal a law issued in 1980 that provided legal justification for events that came to be called "the Tadmor" massacre, during which hundreds of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and their sympathizers were sentenced to death. He stated that the Brotherhood was not against direct dialogue with the state and, in fact, attempted to engage in dialogue with the then ruling regime in 1984 and 1987, both of which led nowhere, according to Al Bayanoni. The Middle East Mirror quoted Al Bayanoni as saying, "If Bashar is really ready to allow for the practice of full civil liberties, take steps towards democracy, and political pluralism [even if gradual], respect human rights and establish a regime based on institutions, we will deal with him as if nothing had happened." |
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