DAMASCUS — Syria's embattled secular authorities have closed the country's sole casino and eased restrictions on the wearing of the veil by school teachers, a leading human rights activist said on Wednesday.
The charge came as President Bashar al-Assad faced the worst
"They are trying to win over men of religion in a bid to sideline what is happening, even while there are protests every week when people leave the mosques," after the main weekly Muslim prayers each Friday, said Syrian League for Human Rights chairman Abdul Karim Rihawi.
He said that the casino, which had been operating in a Damascus amusements arcade since late December, had been shut down on Tuesday evening on the grounds that it was illegal.
Leading cleric Sheikh Mohammed Said Ramadan al-Buthi meanwhile announced on state television that the authorities had decided to reinstate more than 1,000 school teachers.
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