Syria - Jun 30, 2011 - 14:29

Syrian opposition figures at home and abroad have joined ranks to set up a "national coordination committee" to push for democratic reforms, a rights activist said on Thursday.

"A national coordination committee has been formed, seeking national and democratic change in Syria," said rights lawyer Hassan Abdel Azim.

The committee "has drafted a political document that has been sent to political parties and (opposition) figures for discussion and approval," he told AFP.

Prominent opposition figures inside Syria such as Michel Kilo, Haytham al-Maleh and Fayez Sara are part of the committee which includes opponents based abroad such as Borhan Ghaliyun and Rami Abdel Rahman, said the lawyer.

It also comprises several Syrian opposition and leftist parties as well as 11 Kurdish political groups.

A lawyer by training, Abdel Azim, who is nearly 80, is secretary general of the Arab Socialist Union party and spokesperson for the National Democratic Rally, left-leaning opposition parties.

He was arrested and detained at the end of April by Syrian authorities during a sweep targeting regime opponents - despite the lifting that month of nearly five decades of draconian emergency rule.

The announcement of the committee comes days after opposition figures met in Damascus to push for reform.

On Monday, about 160 dissidents, several of whom have spent years in jail as political prisoners, vowed to press ahead with a peaceful uprising, and the embattled regime of President Bashar al-Assad invited them to talks.

Their meeting was criticised by activists behind four months of street protests against the regime.  -  AFP