Assad's government Thursday said it may scrap an emergency law in place since 1963 and announced the release of all activists detained this month, following a week of deadly protests in the south. “Under a directive by President Bashar Al-Assad, all those detained in recent events have been freed,” state television reported. London-based rights group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, confirmed the release of all detainees arrested in Daraa, a tribal city 100 kilometers (75 miles) south of Damascus that has emerged as the hub of the demonstrations. The news comes hours after presidential adviser Buthaina Shaaban said the ruling Baath party had agreed to study the possibility of lifting the emergency law and announced a string of other reforms, including pay rises for state employees and possible licensing of political parties. Pro-Assad demonstrators immediately took to the streets of Damascus, honking their horns and waving Syrian flags as well as pictures of the president and his father, Hafez Al-Assad, who came into power in 1970. Syria, the latest Middle Eastern country to witness an uprising against a long-running autocratic regime, has been hit by unprecedented protests demanding major change after almost five decades of rule by the Alawite-controlled Baath party. The demonstrations began this month in Damascus but have been largely contained in the capital. They broke out in force instead in Daraa, where activists reported more than 100 people killed Wednesday alone in clashes with security forces. Shaaban, who described protesters' demands as “just”, Thursday put the Daraa death toll during the week at 10. She said Assad had chaired a meeting of the Baath, which agreed to look into a new media law granting “greater transparency and freedom”.
