JURIST - Paper Chase: Sunday, April 17, 2011

[JURIST] Syrian President Bashar al-Assad [Al Jazeera profile; JURIST news archive] on Saturday announced in a televised speech that he will lift emergency laws [UPI report] that have been in place for 48 years. For the past four weeks, tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets each Friday, demanding, in part, that the emergency laws be revoked. The law will be formally lifted next week, he said.

Last week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] reported [text] that Syrian security forces have stopped medical personnel [JURIST report], sometimes violently, from attending to injured protesters. A spokesperson for the group called the practice "both inhumane and illegal." According to the report, at least 28 protesters died Friday in protests spread across three cities. Witnesses said security forces opened fire when civilians tried to remove the injured from the scenes and that in Daraa an ambulance was blocked from reaching wounded protesters.

[JURIST] An Egyptian court on Saturday ordered that the political party of former president Hosni Mubarak [Al Jazeera profile; JURIST news archive] be dissolved. It would be illogical [Reuters report] for Mubarak's National Democratic Party, which took control in 1978, to remain an entity, the country's High Administrative Court said. The court also liquidated the party's assets. Analysts call the court's decision an important step in the building of a multi-party system, which the country has not had for more than 30 years.

The decision came just days after the court ordered Mubarak moved to a hospital to recover from an unspecified ailment, causing a delay in questioning [JURIST report] regarding his alleged roles in protester deaths and embezzlement of government money. The chief prosecutor last week summoned [Al Jazeera report] Mubarak for questioning, along with his two sons, Gamal and Alaa. Egyptian authorities continued to question Mubarak's sons [AFP report] after Mubarak was taken to the hospital. In a televised statement on Sunday, Mubarak denied corruption charges [BBC report], asserted his right to defend his reputation and expressed his willingness to cooperate [Al Arabiya report] with investigations, denying that he owns property abroad or holds foreign bank accounts.

[JURIST] Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika [official profile, in French] on Friday declared an initiative for sweeping constitutional and political reforms in order to increase the role of democracy in the African nation. The announcement, which came in a nationally televised address [video], was seen as a progressive step for the country in the wake of political protests in the Middle East and North Africa [BBC backgrounder]. During his speech, Bouteflika pledged to amend the constitution [AFP report] and make changes to current electoral law, ensure fairness in the country's elections, and work to improve relations between opposing political parties before the presidential elections in 2014. Bouteflika also promised to improve media relations [Siasat Daily report] in the country by introducing a new information law [BBC backgrounder] that would decrease fines for defamation and allow the release of currently imprisoned journalists. Unlike other nations, the political protests in Algeria have been relatively small, local events in the capital city of Algiers. However, the political movements have been gaining strength [Reuters report] in recent weeks.

In February, Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci announced the government will end the 19-year-old state of emergency laws [JURIST reports] amidst growing protests in Algeria and the ongoing protests in Tunisia and Egypt. The state of emergency, which has been in place since a series of decrees in 1992, gave the government power to limit political freedoms and even peaceful protests. Opponents also claimed that the state of emergency gave rise to arbitrary detentions. Algeria has been under a state of emergency since 1992 when the military canceled elections fearing a win by religious fundamentalists. The state of emergency was declared [DOS backgrounder] after it became apparent that the militant Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) would win control of the government. Bouteflika came to power, winning the presidency in 1999 with 70 percent of the official vote and appearing to have the backing of the military.