| 19 June 2012
The British public will today in London be told about the efforts being made by members of the Opposition Movement in Syria and in the Diaspora to rid their country of the Vulture, Bashar al-Assad in a Public Lecture entitled Syria: The Road to Democracy to be delivered by Shaykh Sayyid Muhammad al-Yaqoubi at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI), 61 Whitehall, London SW1A 2ET.
History will remember Shaykh Sayyid Muhammad al-Yaqoubi as one of the first to publicly speak out against the Government last year and encourage the uprising.
After criticising the regime during a Friday sermon, he was removed from his post and has since been forced to live in exile in Morocco. He remains, however, a respected figure and powerful moderate voice in his country. Shaykh al-Yaqoubi will discuss his country's hopes for freedom and his own efforts to unite Syria's opposition movement to ensure a peaceful transition to democracy.
Together with several tribal leaders and political figures, he recently formed The National Body which held dialogue with the SNC in Bulgaria and signed a joint statement in the wake of the Houla massacre.
The event will start from 1300 to 1400.
Shaykh Sayyid Muhammad al-Yaqoubi was born in Damascus and is from a family of scholars. As well as being a high-profile figure within Syria, he has been invited to attend conferences and speak in many countries in the Middle East and Europe. Together with several tribal leaders and political figures, he recently formed The National Body which held dialogue with the SNC in Bulgaria and signed a joint Statement in the wake of the Houla massacre. Shaykh al-Yaqoubi is also an executive member of The Union of the Syrian Youth for Freedom and head of the Shar'a office in the Military Council of Damascus.