Cousin of Syrian president pushed for Democratic Change

Ribal Assad occupies an attractive position, but controversial, which speak out against government abuses of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
His family name is both a help and an inability to Ribal Assad as he tried to push for democratic change in his native Syria.

Assad is a cousin of Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose repressive regime under strong pressure from pro-democracy protesters in the country and Western nations are angered by the bloody repression in response mounted.

As a member of the clan, Ribal Assad, 36, occupies a compelling case that speaking out against government abuses of his nephew.

But his position is also controversial. His father, Rifaat, once Syrian vice president before being expelled from the country, is accused of leading a 1982 military assault on Sunni Muslims in the city of Hama that at least 20,000 people died. Ribal insistence on the innocence of his father, enraged many Syrian dissidents.

Ribal, a businessman based in London with interests in China, the head of two organizations whose stated goals are democracy and religious tolerance in Syria and the Middle East.

Is the current situation in Syria of peaceful protest to armed insurrection happened?

It is a while. At first it has a very peaceful demonstrators in Aram. All ethnic groups, all sects, all religions have. They saw what happened in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain .... They want freedom, dignity, freedom of association, all of this.

The regime does not want to understand. They said: "We are different countries." ... When blood is shed, it is very difficult to have control over things to get, because it developed quickly.

If Bashar is ousted, the larger the risk of widespread sectarian violence be?

He does not have to be demolished, there is a big risk. If things the way they live, there is a risk that there is a sectarian war that could lead to regional war. Syria is not isolated. It's not like Libya. Syria has strong allies in Lebanon, Hezbollah.

They also have the government of Iran .... Iran does not allow the regime to fall. They have invested heavily in this regime. And strategic for them, Syria is very important.

You have called Syria a vassal state "of Iran. But how realistic is that Damascus will never break its close ties with Tehran?

The only way in which Syria will be able to escape the Iranian influence in Syria has a strong government of national unity. They had national reconciliation, national unity government, all working together for a better future ... that. And you will see that their future is best allies in the West and Iran.

Do not understand why the West and NATO did not give more support to the demonstrators?

Nobody wants a military intervention. It would be chaotic. The Syrian opposition ... Do not even think. The international community knows very well that Syria is not Libya. Syria has a lot of allies. [A military operation in Syria will remain within the borders of Syria.

The best way to pressure the government to make them sit with all opposition groups, a national dialogue. From the moment the reform, a process ... that supervision by the international community.

Bashar is more determined to hang up now who saw what happened [the Libyan leader Muammar] Gaddafi?

They have not waited until now. You have seen the end Saddam [in Iraq]. They must understand they are not this way you can govern. We live in the 21st century.

People even in democracies can not endure the same face [all the time ].... They want to change. They are entitled to it. All regimes have learned that in the end, when choosing the oppressed and oppressors, you will never have a good ending.

So Bashar is down?

When reform began immediately, and that immediately stopped the violence, start a national reconciliation, the establishment of a national unity government, and after this transition period until our next election, he can continue as a transition. [But] It's been seven months. We are at a dead end. Nothing has happened. A lot of countries have told him not ....

When he was going to do some remodeling. It begins with a "Damascus Spring." And suddenly it stopped. He stopped because people in the security apparatus became afraid. It is happening again today.

Many Syrians blame his father for the slaughter of Hama and do not want your family to see a future role of Syria takes.

Why always focus on my father? My father told me many times: "I have nothing to do with what happened in Hama, no." ... The regime blames him for everything. They had a scapegoat is needed. Corruption is stopped when my father left the country? No, it was a million times worse. They stopped torturing people? Nothing stopped. It has nothing, but worse.

Some people abroad, they only have this hatred and resentment. The same in Syria .... If we want the future of our nation building, we can not build resentment.

But people want accountability for past injustices.

People from all sides suffered .... All people need to get accountability. We can not forget, we must learn from our past mistakes. However, we must be able to forgive one another, because this is our country. At the end of the day, we live together.

A lot of [Syrian dissidents] have lived in the West for 30 years. They know nothing about democracy. They think that democracy is "Once again we have at our disposal and we need the rest will happen." All persons under the rule of law to protect. People are equal under the rule of law, regardless of their religion, ethnicity, sect, sex ....

I think that Syria and the region, the Middle East, is a beautiful mosaic of people. It should not be seen as weakness by the Syrian people. This is not a weakness, is a force.

Look at a country like S. U. It is strong because it is very diversified. You have people of all nationalities, all religions, all sects living together, working for the good of his country.