Syria 'to lift emergency law'

Syrian government adviser confirms to Al Jazeera that the country's emergency law is to be lifted but fails to say when.

Bouthaina Shaaban, an adviser to Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, told Al Jazeera's Cal Perry in the capital, Damascus, on Sunday that the law would "absolutely" be lifted, but failed to give a timetable.

The repeal of the emergency law, in place since the 1963 coup that brought the Baath Party to power, has been a key demand of protesters who have taken to the streets in recent days to demand greater political freedoms.

The emergency law imposes restrictions on public gatherings and movement and authorises the arrest of "suspects or persons who threaten security".
Read more