# Syria’s leader proclaims ‘new history’ after signing constitutional declaration

Five-year transition period declared along with rights for women, freedom of expression and justice for Assad victims

Ahmad al-Sharaa, Syria’s interim president, has hailed the start of a “new history” for his country, after signing into force a constitutional declaration regulating its five-year transitional period and laying out rights for women and freedom of expression.

The declaration comes three months after Islamist-led rebels toppled Bashar al-Assad’s repressive government, leading to calls for an inclusive new Syria that respects rights.

It also follows a wave of violence that broke out on Syria’s Mediterranean coast last week, in which security forces killed nearly 1,500 civilians, according to a war monitor, most of them members of the Alawite minority to which the Assad family belongs.

Sharaa, Syria’s interim president, said on Thursday he hoped the constitutional declaration would mark the beginning of “a new history for Syria, where we replace oppression with justice … and suffering with mercy”, as he signed the document at the presidential palace.

The new authorities had previously repealed the Assad-era constitution and dissolved parliament.

The declaration sets out a transitional period of five years, during which a “transitional justice commission” would be formed to “determine the means for accountability, establish the facts, and provide justice to victims and survivors” of the former government’s misdeeds.

According to a copy of the document shared by the presidency, “the glorification of the former Assad regime and its symbols” is forbidden, as is “denying, praising, justifying or downplaying its crimes”.

Abdul Hamid al-Awak, a member of the committee that drafted the document, said it also enshrines “women’s right to participate in work and education, and have all their social, political and economic rights guaranteed”.

The declaration maintains the requirement that the president of the republic must be a Muslim, with Islamic jurisprudence set out as “the main source” of legislation.

It gives the president a sole exceptional power: declaring a state of emergency.

Awak added that the people’s assembly, a third of which will be appointed by the president, would be tasked with drafting all legislation.

Under the declaration, the legislature cannot impeach the president, nor can the president dismiss any lawmakers.

Executive power would also be restricted to the president in the transitional period, Awak said, pointing to the need for “rapid action to confront any difficulties”.

He added that the declaration also guarantees the “freedom of opinion, expression and the press”, and affirms the independence of the judiciary.

Awak said a committee would be formed to draft a new permanent constitution.

Sharaa, who under his previous nom de guerre, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, led the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which spearheaded Assad’s overthrow, was appointed interim president in late January. He promised to issue the constitutional declaration to serve as a “legal reference” during the transition period.

The Kurdish-led administration in north-eastern Syria sharply criticised the declaration, saying it “contradicts the reality of Syria and its diversity”.

Earlier this week, the Syrian Democratic Forces – the Kurdish-led administration’s de facto army – struck a deal with the authorities in Damascus to be integrated into state institutions.

But the administration on Thursday said the declaration “does not represent the aspirations of our people” and “undermines efforts to achieve true democracy”.

The text of the declaration states: “Calls for division and separatism, requests for foreign intervention, or reliance on foreign powers are criminalised,” without offering specifics.

It adds, however, that the government “seeks to coordinate with relevant countries and entities to support the reconstruction process”.

A UN spokesperson quoted the special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, as saying he “hopes the  declaration can be a solid legal framework for a genuinely credible and inclusive political transition”, adding “proper implementation will be key”.

The declaration comes a week after the deadly rash of violence on Syria’s coast, in what analysts described as the gravest threat so far to the transitional process.

Mass killings mainly targeted Alawites, resulting in at least 1,476 civilian deaths at the hands of the security forces and their allies, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Sharaa has vowed to prosecute those behind the bloodshed, and the authorities have announced several arrests.
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