Reform of Syria's judiciary is a matter that the Movement for Justice and Development feels very passionate about. Not only is the judiciary in its current configuration unfit for purpose, but it is also actively undermining the struggle for democracy by not guaranteeing free and fair trials for activists arrested on false charges. 

A fundamental tenet of any future democracy is the right to due process and a free and fair trial. From the outset the Ba'th dictatorship has sought to co-opt the judiciary within its totalitarian state. What it has failed to achieve through corruption it was able to achieve through coercion. Due legal process is now almost non-existent, trials are set up with no defence lawyers, and confessions extracted through torture are routinely used as evidence.

It is imperative that field courts set up by the military to try civilians are abolished.  The Supreme State Security Court, an ad hoc creation where judgement is not subject to appeal, should also be abolished. The judiciary must be allowed to function independently of the executive and that entails the president relinquishing his powers as head of the Supreme Judicial Council, and his powers to appoint judges to the Supreme Constitutional Court. 

The Movement for Justice and Development is determined to reform the judicial system, and will fight to restore confidence in the legal process.