Translation by Dani Ahmed
In a recent procedure by regime’s ministry of justice, a new formed committee has deliberated a proposal called the (temporary return) that suggests “to rent empty houses that their owners have left in the current crisis to Syrian citizens”
An independent judiciary figure, a defector judge Abdul Hai Taweel, considered the “temporary return” as “contrary to the most basic rules of law, and violates the legal principles governing legislation”.
According to Taweel , “The owner of any property has the right to do what he/she deems in his property, and no third party is entitled to do so, and being absent has its conditions and legal rules that are stated by the law, and not being in a place is not enough to be considered legally “absent”.
“This step is an attempt to put more pressure on people to return to their houses, similar to previous procedures such as the abolition of ID cards and imposing new ones”. He added
The move comes in a comprehensive review of the provisions of Rent Act No. 1 of 2006, according to what Mr. Kamal Jeniat has stated , the consultant in the Cassation court and Chairman of Al "Baath" newspaper’s committee, the spokesperson of Baath Party in Syria.
Jeniat claimed that “the mentioned proposal intends to alleviate the suffering of many displaced Syrians, with rents estimated by a specialized committee and kept in a special fund that will be given legally later to the real owners once they get back.
“The committee consists of the finest legal specialists who will fill any gaps, and remove any contradiction or ambiguity that will result from implementing the law, to meet the requirements of the current stage and subsequent stages."
“The most problematic challenges the committee is currently facing, are adjusting the mood of real estate experts in estimating the value of a property and setting standards and specific criteria to prevent manipulation,” he concluded.
However, a group of Syrian refugees interviewed by Zaman Al Wasl have described the move, as an attempt to legalize seizing the houses of people who were forced to flee the threat of war and Assad’s detention machine, amid corruption, lawlessness and security looseness since the government lost its prestige to the infinite authority of its Shabiha.
According to them, no one is convinced of regime’s alleged human motives, when corruption used to nest in its core when it was holding together in the past, so how is the case now when law is absent and chaos dominates the scene.
In another context, it was circulated through media that another law is being prepared by the ministry of justice to allow the regime to use minors’ funds through the establishment of so-called “The general Committee for management and investment of minors’ funds.”
The pro-regime and semi-official newspaper owned by Rami Makhlouf, “Al Wattan” reported from the first Shariah Judge in Damascus “Mahmoud Al Marawi that the committee will put broad outlines to this project and investment minors frozen funds in the banks, which will force parents who cannot manage the funds to deposit it with the committee.
The bill includes the appointment of a judge in each governorate, who specializes in the field of minors and orphans ‘money.
The number of minors registered in the Syrian judiciary who have funds is million, including orphans and children under the age of 18 years, and sources estimated that their funds in the Syrian banks may amount to tens of billions.
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