Moderate Islamist Movements continue to be suppressed from emergence by Syrian authorities.

 The Syrian government’s recent crackdown on Islamist figures known for their pro-democracy activities has highlighted the difficulty faced by political Islam in growing as a popular movement in Syria.
 
Syrian analysts claim that the authorities continue to stem the emergence of any moderate Islamist movement that attempts to step into public or political life.
 
According to Amnesty International, on November 15, Yousef Deeb al-Hammoud, an Islamist political activist, was arrested at his home in Deir al-Zawr in eastern Syria. An appeal by human rights has been filed for his release as he has been indefinitely detained without charge. Deeb belongs to the Islamic Democratic Current, a political group that openly calls for democratic reform in Syria and opposes the use of violence. Supporters of the pro-democracy Islamic movement say they believe and support western-type democratic systems but with minor reservations. Syrian civil rights advocates asserted that dozens of individuals close to this movement have been arrested by the Syrian authorities, during the last few years.
 
Leaders of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood currently live in exile mostly in European countries.  Some moderate Islamists have joined the Damascus Declaration for Democratic National Change, an outlawed umbrella opposition organisation of secular and minority rights groups but a close eye is kept on these groups to ensure that their pronouncements do not cross official red lines.
 
Observers maintain that in Egypt and Jordan, members of the Muslim Brotherhood, a popular political Islamic movement in the Arab world, are recognized by the authorities and can participate in political life as Independents and not as a party albeit with restrictions on their freedoms. However “The regime would never allow a political Islamic movement to be active in the country,” said a Damascus-based political analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity. Potentially potent Islamic groups like the Muslim Brotherhood or the Hizb ut-Tahrir, which believe that all Muslim countries should be united into one Islamic state, are unable to make any public impact because they are “severely repressed”.