Rohani calls for ‘free and democratic elections’ in Syria

Iranian President Hassan Rohani said on Thursday that “the best solution [in Syria] is organising free and democratic elections.” Speaking from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he added: “Nobody can decide the future of Syria from outside… everybody will work together to defeat terrorism.”

There are two ways of interpreting Rohani’s remarks. One is that the Iranian government is moving towards a political settlement in Syria and is striking under-the-table deals with the West. The other – and this is way more likely – is that this is just another meaningless smokescreen. For Mr Rohani seems to forget that more than half of the Syrian population have become refugees and are dying of hunger and shelling as he speaks, thanks to the continued campaign of terror unleashed by the regime forces with the support of Sepah Pasdaran, Hezbollah Lebanon and Iraqi militias – all funded, armed, trained and directed by Iran’s government.

The president also forgets that tens of thousands of Syrians are still incarcerated in the regime’s prisons, and that the Syrian authorities have been issuing Syrians in areas under the regime’s control with new ID cards, effectively withdrawing citizenship from those who do not apply for the new cards, so that only regime supporters who have the new IDs can vote in the event of any future ‘democratic elections’.

Source: http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/politics/2014/01/23/Syria-Rohani-Davos-free-elections-best-solution_9949506.html

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