{"id":256,"date":"2011-05-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/?p=256","title":{"rendered":"Syria: Repressive Decree No. 54\/2011 puts ban on protests, 27 arrested"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<a href=\"File\/Statements\/2011\/05-19-2011RepressiveDecreeNo54-2011PutsBanOnProtests27arrested.pdf\"><strong>Syria: Repressive Decree No. 54\/2011 puts ban on<br \/>\nprotests, 27 arrested <\/strong><\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n19 May 2011\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\nOn 2 May 2011, 27 protestors were arrested in Daraa and<br \/>\nbrought before the General Prosecutor. They are accused of &quot;inciting to demonstrate<br \/>\nand repeat slogans which undermine the reputation of the State&quot;.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\nThey were arrested under <a href=\"http:\/\/en.alkarama.org\/index.php?option=com_docman&amp;task=doc_download&amp;gid=205&amp;Itemid=222\">Decree<br \/>\nNo. 54\/2011<\/a>, the Syrian law which bans peaceful demonstrations in complete<br \/>\ncontravention with international law. Under the decree, only &quot;properly<br \/>\nlicenced&quot; political parties and popular organisations can hold<br \/>\ndemonstrations, thus depriving a large segment of citizens who are not affiliated<br \/>\nwith any party of the right to demonstrate, which is contrary to article 25 of<br \/>\nthe Constitution.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\nThe decree also imposes many procedural restrictions for<br \/>\nobtaining an approval to organise peaceful demonstrations. For instance, those<br \/>\nwho wish to organise a demonstration must apply to the Ministry of Interior at<br \/>\nleast five days before the scheduled date, inform of the ministry of its<br \/>\nobjectives, causes and even the slogans that will used by the demonstrators.<br \/>\nThe Ministry of Interior can stop the demonstration &quot;if it is inconsistent<br \/>\nwith the interests of the State or endangers citizens and their property&quot;.<br \/>\nThe organisers must also provide a notarized commitment stating that they are<br \/>\nresponsible for all damages that may affect both private and public properties as<br \/>\na result of the protest.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\nThe right to freedom of expression and to participate in<br \/>\npeaceful demonstration is therefore impeded by this Decree, which serves as a<br \/>\nmeans to justify repressive measures against demonstrators, including violence,<br \/>\narrests, even imprisonment.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\nFrom 15 March, there has been a wave of peaceful popular<br \/>\nprotests in Syria calling for democratic reforms; this has led to an escalation<br \/>\nin violence, hundreds of deaths and thousands of arrests. Despite the abolition<br \/>\nof the emergency law and the State Security Court, arbitrary arrests continue<br \/>\nto be committed on the basis of this Decree No. 54\/2011.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<strong><a href=\"File\/Statements\/2011\/05-19-2011RepressiveDecreeNo54-2011PutsBanOnProtests27arrested.pdf\"><strong>Syria: Repressive Decree No. 54\/2011 puts ban on<br \/>\nprotests, 27 arrested <\/strong><\/a><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\nOn 2 May 2011, 27 protestors were arrested in Daraa and<br \/>\nbrought before the General Prosecutor. They are accused of &quot;inciting to demonstrate<br \/>\nand repeat slogans which undermine the reputation of the State&quot;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}