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( Bashar al-Assad)
Dr Bashar al-Assad (Arabic ???? ??????, Baššar al-Asad) (born 11 September 1965) is the President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Regional Secretary of the Baath Party, and the son of former President Hafez al-Assad. The Baath Party remains in control of the parliament, and is constitutionally the "leading party" of the state. Until he became President, Bashar al-Assad was not greatly involved in Syrian politics; his only political role was as head of the Syrian Computer Society, which was mainly in charge of introducing the Internet to Syria in 2001. Al-Assad was confirmed as President by an unopposed referendum in 2000. He was expected to bring a more liberal approach to the leadership than his father. In an interview he stated that he saw democracy in Syria as 'a tool to a better life' but then argued that it would take time for democracy to come about and that it could not be rushed [1]. At best, politically and economically, Syria life has changed only slightly since 2000. Immediately after he took office a reform movement made cautious advances during the so-called Damascus Spring, and al-Assad seemed to accept this, shutting down the Mezze prison and releasing hundreds of political prisoners. The Damascus Spring, however, ground to an abrupt halt as security crackdowns commenced again within the year. Although al-Assad rules with a softer touch than his father, political freedoms are still extremely curtailed. He resembles his father in many ways but is more subtle in reducing opposition. In an interview conducted with the ABC News [2] he stated "We don't have such [things as] political prisoners," yet The New York Times reported the arrest of 30 political prisoners in Syria as recently as December 2007 [3].
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