Poet Adonis Urges Assad to Cede Power to People

Renowned Syrian poet and intellectual Adonis urged President Bashar al-Assad to end his crackdown on popular protests and cede power to his people, in an open letter published on Tuesday.

"The Socialist Baath Party has not remained in power this long because of the strength of its ideology, but because of the power of its iron fist," wrote the French-based Adonis, winner of this year's prestigious Goethe Prize and one of the most popular poets and essayists in the Arab world.

"Experience shows that this fist ... can impose hegemony for a limited time only," read the letter to Assad, published by Lebanon's Arabic-language daily As-Safir.

"It seems your destiny is to sacrifice yourself for your mistakes and to give back voice to the people and let them decide," he wrote in the letter.

Adonis, whose real name is Ali Ahmed Saeed, has for decades advocated secularism and free speech in the Arab world, often employing intense imagery.

Born in the Syrian mountain town of Qassabin, Adonis -- like Assad -- is a Alawite Muslim, an offshoot of Shiite Islam that controls the Baath Party which has ruled Syria for nearly five decades.

Rights groups estimate that more than 1,200 people have been killed and 10,000 detained since mid-March as Assad's forces crack down on an unprecedented revolt against his autocratic regime.

The regime's brutal repression has driven thousands of Syrians to seek refuge in neighboring Turkey and Lebanon, according to the United Nations.