Syrian lawyers demand free bar association elections: Petition

Syrian lawyers launched an online petition demanding free elections for their bar association after the country’s new rulers appointed a council to govern the association, a lawyer said Tuesday.

The armed opposition toppled longtime president Bashar al-Assad earlier this month, ending more than 50 years of his family’s iron-clad rule.

Lawyer Abdulhay Sayed, who signed the petition, said that Syria’s new rulers “appointed a new council” to govern the bar association with “no visibility for the future.”

The petition, seen by AFP, said: “Today, with the collapse of the deposed regime, the bar association must no longer be subordinate to the whims of any ruler.”

“It is imperative that it reclaim its rightful role in public life and empower its members to defend the rights of individuals and safeguard society’s existence, even against the most powerful authorities,” it added.

The petition said its councils should not be replaced by “others lacking electoral legitimacy.”

“This approach would simply substitute one form of authoritarianism for another, perpetuating the suppression of the bar’s vital role in oversight and protection of rights,” the statement said.

“At this critical transitional moment, it is essential to organize free and independent elections for the central bar association and its branches across the provinces without delay,” it said.

The petition was signed by about two dozen lawyers mainly based in the Damascus, Homs and Hama areas.

It “aims to restore the bar association’s historical role and its independence,” Sayed said.

The bar had played a leading role in opposing state repression, particularly in the early 1980s, before being muzzled by authorities that imposed their own appointees.

Syria’s new authorities have suspended the constitution and parliament for a three-month interim period and appointed a transitional government to head the country during that time.

Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said organizing national elections could take four years and that rewriting the constitution could take two or three years, in a televised interview last week.