Middle East
EU slaps sanctions on Syrian president
European bloc imposes sanctions on Bashar al-Assad in attempt to pressure
government to end violence against protesters.
Last Modified: 23 May 2011 11:05
The European Union has imposed sanctions on Bashar al-Assad, Syria's president,
raising pressure on
his government to end violence against protesters, EU diplomats said.
EU foreign ministers agreed on Monday to add several Syrian officials,
including Assad, to a list people affected by EU travel restrictions and asset
freezes.
Syrian security forces have used tanks, gunfire and mass arrests to crack down
on flashpoints to try to crush a two-month-old revolt against four decades of
rule by the Assad family.
"The repression in Syria continues," British Foreign Secretary William Hague
said as he went into talks with his counterparts.
"It is important to see the right to peaceful protest, the release of political
prisoners and taking the path of reform not repression in Syria over the coming
days."
Leading officials sanctioned
The European sanctions against Syria included asset freezes, travel bans and an
arms embargo.
"They (the EU) have actually come into line with the US now and included
president Bashar al-Assad in their list of officials targeted by sanctions," Al
Jazeera's Nadim Baba reported from Brussels.
Florence Looi reports in an Al Jazeera Exclusive on Syrians being tortured by
security forces.
"This means he will now also face an asset freeze and a travel ban."
"It shows how seriously the European Union takes [Assad's] failure to accept
the olive branch that they offered him," Baba added.
On the list of 13 targeted officials was the president's brother, Maher
al-Assad, who commands Syria's Republican Guard and is the second most powerful
man in Syria.
Ali Mamlouk, head of the General Intelligence Service, and Adulfattah Qudsiyeh,
who runs military intelligence were also on the list.
"The aim of the sanctions is to stop the violence and press Assad to agree to a
process of reform, but not to force him to step down," an EU diplomat said
earlier of the new measures to be announced at the two-day talks.
Germany's foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, said it was necessary to move
against Syria's top leaders.
"If someone represses his own people like that, responds to peaceful
demonstrations with force, this can't be left unanswered by the European
Union," he said.
Crackdown
On Sunday, protesters defied a security crackdown, turning out in thousands in
the city of Homs to attend the funerals of pro-democracy demonstrators and
calling for Assad's removal.
Anti-government demonstrators also rallied in an eastern town after a
17-year-old activist, Mohammad Akram al-Tumah, immolated himself on Friday,
echoing the self immolation of a Tunisian vegetable trader last year that
sparked protests across the Arab world.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain, said it had
the names of 863 civilians who had been killed in shootings by security forces
since the pro-democracy uprising erupted 10 weeks ago.
Assad has largely dismissed the protests as part of a foreign-backed conspiracy
to sow sectarian strife in Syria.
In April, the United States imposed sanctions on Syria's intelligence agency
and two relatives of the president.
The sanctions included asset freezes and bans on US business dealings, building
on broader US measures against Syria that were in place since 2004.
Source:
Al Jazeeera and agencies
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