26 May 2011
(MENAFN) German foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, said that both the European Union and Switzerland imposed sanctions on the Syrian regime by freezing Bashar al Assad’s assets as well as the assets of other senior government officials, reported The National.
Westerwelle added that the sanctions came as a way to increase financial pressure on the regime that was accused of repressing the people who went on peaceful demonstrations who asked for reforms in the system.
He also said that such actions by the European Union and the international community reflected the swift action taken against other regimes in the Middle East after violent responses to uprisings.
It is worth noting that the freeze of the Assad assets came to give confidence to the international community and many in the Arab world that there will be no double standards when it comes to dealing with humanitarian issues, since western countries needed to make clear that such actions were motivated by humanitarian concerns, not political ones.
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