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A plainclothes policeman catches a woman during a police crackdown on prostitution in Quanzhou, Fujian province, October 29, 2011. China should remove criminal and administrative penalties against sex workers which often lead to serious police abuses, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on May 14, 2013. The abuses include torture, beatings, physical assaults, fines and arbitrary detentions of up to two years, as well as a failure to investigate crimes against sex workers by clients, bosses and state agents, according to the report. Prostitution is not permitted under Chinese law, although the industry has boomed since the country launched economic reforms in 1978. REUTERS/Stringer

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Syria forms new government, keeps top ministers

BEIRUT | Sat Jun 23, 2012 7:36am EDT

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree to form a new government on Saturday, shaking up many cabinet posts but keeping the heads of the interior, defense and foreign ministries, state television reported.

The reappointment of Defence Minister Daoud Rajha will quash widespread rumors, previously denied by the government, that he had been assassinated by rebels who are struggling to bring down President Bashar al-Assad's rule.

The 16-month uprising, which has faced a brutal government crackdown, is increasingly being termed a civil war by foreign observers. Assad argues he is pursuing reforms even as he fights a revolt he says is led by foreign-backed militants.

But critics say Assad's appointment of Riyad Hijab as prime minister earlier in June was a sign the president was turning to hardline loyalists. Hijab formed the new government given Assad's approval, Syria TV said on Saturday.

Hijab, a former agriculture minister, is a committed member of Assad's Baath Party, which has ruled Syria for nearly four decades since his father Hafez al-Assad took power in 1970.

Most of the top government posts were given to Baathist loyalists. Critics consider the cabinet to be largely symbolic and say power in Syria remains in the hands of Assad and his close inner circle of family and security force elites.

The new cabinet follows a May 7 parliamentary election which Assad said was part of the path to reform but the opposition boycotted as a sham, insisting the president must step down.

Other than Rajha, the ministers to retain their post were Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim al-Shaar and Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem.

Several new ministries were created in the new cabinet.

The moderate Qadri Jamil, a centrist who has said he is speaking both to the government and to rebels, was appointed minister of internal commerce and consumer protection. The post is newly formed and likely to be mostly ceremonial.

(Reporting by Erika Solomon; Editing by Alison Williams)
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Comments (2)
daohung wrote:
It is just a ridiculous for al-Assad continue to lead his government. He has been mistrust and caused a soon-to-be a civil war. He has done wrong right from the begining when people rising up to protest peacefully. Lessons he has yet learned from Khadafi, Sadam Hussein, and many other dictators in Middle East. Sooner or later, he will face a same consequence as these dictator.

Jun 23, 2012 7:36am EDT  --  Report as abuse
Fromkin wrote:
“…. that he had been assassinated by rebels who are struggling to bring down President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.”

No, they can not bring down the Syrian government. They have been rather tasked by their masters to keep the bloodshed going in a bid to generate negative news about Syria and MAYBE EVENTUALLY a NATO attack.

Jun 23, 2012 9:47pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
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