Syria’s new leader signs constitution to keep his Islamist group in power for five years

Syria’s interim president on Thursday signed a temporary constitution that leaves the country under Islamist rule while promising to protect the rights of all Syrians for five years during a transitional phase.

The nation’s interim rulers have struggled to exert their authority across much of Syria since the Islamist former insurgent group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, led a lightning insurgency that overthrew longtime President Bashar al-Assad in December.

Former HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa is now the country’s interim president — a decision that was announced after a meeting of the armed groups that took part in the offensive against Assad. At the same meeting, the groups agreed to repeal the country’s old constitution and said a new one would be drafted.

While many were happy to see an end to the Assad family’s dictatorial rule of more than 50 years in the war-torn country, religious and ethnic minorities have been skeptical of the new Islamist leaders and reluctant to allow Damascus under its new authorities to assert control of their areas.

Abdulhamid Al-Awak, one of the seven members of the committee al-Sharaa tasked to draft the temporary constitution, told a news conference Thursday that it would maintain some provisions from the previous one, including the stipulation that the head of state has to be a Muslim, and Islamic law is the main source of jurisprudence.

But Al-Awak, a constitutional law expert who teaches at Mardin Artuklu University in Turkey, also said that the temporary constitution includes provisions that enshrine freedom of expression and the media.

The constitution will “balance between social security and freedom” during Syria’s shaky political situation, he said, and will set up an “absolute and rigid separation” between legislative, executive and judicial authorities.

The text of the temporary constitution, published late Thursday, sets up a People’s Committee which will serve as an interim parliament until a permanent constitution is adopted and elections held. Two-thirds of its members will be appointed by a committee selected by the interim president and one-third by al-Sharaa himself.

The documents says the state is “committed to combatting all forms of violent extremism while respecting rights and freedoms” and that “citizens are equal before the law in rights and duties, without discrimination based on race, religion, gender or lineage.” It stipulates that the army is a “professional national institution” and arms outside of its control are prohibited and designates “glorifying the former Assad regime” as a crime.