It has become clear that the Presidency of the Council of Ministers is not blameless in the outcome reached by the "Secret Council", which has conspired to partition Syria into sectarian emirates and to legitimize the enslavement of women and rape of young girls, and all in the name of "Islam"! This is due to the Presidency's acceptance of the conclusions of this council, after having set a "deadline" of 30 days (for 665 articles!), as if it were merely a matter of semantics! As well as the Presidency's decision to study the draft law through a committee thrown together with a bunch of names in a shameful attempt to whitewash the crime which they are planning to perpetrate against Syria, against its men and women and children alike!
Add to this the complete refusal of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers to state any position with regards to this criminal draft law, under flimsy pretexts such as that the draft law is under discussion, or that they will work to amend it, or other such excuses whose only aim is to render their position ambiguous (at least to some).
Likewise their refusal to disclose the names of the members of the committee which is tasked with passing this sectarian and destructive draft law that runs so completely counter to the progress of the state and society, which is towards increased development and not "Taliban-style laws."
As we and others have shown previously, this draft law:
- Is an explicit and blatant violation of the constitution
- Violates international treaties to which Syria is a signee
- Violates the highest aims of all the Semitic faiths including Islam
- Propagates religious and sectarian differences and calls explicitly for a nation of sects
- Replaces the conception of a modern state with that of an "emirate"
- Legitimates violence against women in the most vile ways, forcing her to become a pre-paid mistress and a subordinate servant
- Legitimates violence against children, in particular the rape of girls who have supposedly reached "maturity"!
Thus this draft law falls under a great number of violations as stipulated in the Syrian Penal Code, and especially the section dealing with crimes against the internal security of the state, since its true and explicit goal as expressed in every article is to destroy the modern civic state and to found a religious emirate with a sectarian regime under the control of an emir. This is made abundantly clear by the law's establishment of the right of each sect (and then each sub-sect and clan) to create its own private Personal Status law, and from there to create its own private laws in every other matter.
It also violates other sections of the Syrian Penal Code subject to severe punishment in terms of its open incitement to violence against women and children.
Thus, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers today bears complete responsibility without any reservations for what becomes of this immoral draft law, whether in its current or amended form.
We at "Syrian Women" (Nesa' Suriya) announce our position clearly and openly, that the responsibility for this draft law lies with the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, for not doing what they should have done, which is as follows:
1) Announce in the Syrian media the complete repeal of this draft law
2) Announce in the media the names of the members of the committee which prepared this draft law, then dissolve the committee and prohibit its members from partaking in a discussion of any Syrian legislation from this day forward, in addition to barring them from any position or responsibility affecting the people in any way, including teaching in schools or Universities, leading prayer or delivering sermons in mosques.
3) Announce in the media the designation of the Syrian Commission for Family Affairs (the equivalent of a government ministry, among whose primary concerns as stipulated by law are the review of any legislation related to the family in Syria and presenting proposals for its development), along with the General Women's Union and, in participation with associations and organizations active in different social issues, to prepare a new draft law. The Commission should granted total freedom to choose an appropriate committee for the preparation of the new draft legislation, conditioned on the non-inclusion of any of the members of that previous immoral committee.
4) Apologize publicly to the people of Syria for the anxiety and sectarian unrest which this draft law has caused.
In continuing to discuss this draft law or any of its proposed amendments, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers is adopting the spirit of depravity which the law embodies, thus openly joining a conspiracy to divide Syria and legislate violence against its women and children. The historical responsibilities should follow accordingly...
Bassam AlKadi, 12/6/2009, (An open call to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers: We hold you responsible for the fate of Syria!)
Translated by Tyler Golson
source in Arabic..