Syria leader signs constitutional declaration, hailing 'new history'

DAMASCUS - Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa hailed the start of a "new history" for his country on Thursday, 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 both inside and outside the country for an inclusive new Syria that respects rights.

The new authorities repealed the Assad-era constitution and dissolved parliament.

Interim President Sharaa on Thursday said 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 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.

The declaration enshrines "women's right to participate in work and education, and have all their social, political and economic rights guaranteed", said Abdul Hamid al-Awak, a member of the committee that drafted the declaration.

It 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 also stipulates the "absolute separation of powers", Awak said, pointing to toppled president Assad's "encroachment" on other branches of government.

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.

A supreme electoral committee would be formed to oversee the election of members of the legislature.

CANNOT BE IMPEACHED

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".

The declaration affirms the independence of the judiciary and prohibits "the establishment of extraordinary courts", under which many Syrians suffered for decades, Awak said.

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

The declaration becomes effective as soon as it is officially published.

In late January, Sharaa promised a "constitutional declaration" to serve as a "legal reference" during the transitional period.

He then announced in early March the formation of a committee to draft the declaration that included two women.

That announcement was "based on the Syrian people's aspirations in building their state based on the rule of law, and building on the outcomes of the Syrian national dialogue conference", the presidency said at the time.

Sharaa, who led the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which spearheaded Assad's overthrow, was appointed interim president in late January.

Thursday's declaration comes a week after a wave of deadly violence broke out on Syria's Mediterranean coast, in what analysts described as the gravest threat so far to the transitional process.

Mass killings mainly targeted members of Assad's Alawite minority in their coastal heartland, resulting in at least 1,476 civilian deaths, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.