Syria’s minister of information in the country’s transitional government told AFP he is working towards a free press and committed to “freedom of expression”, after decades of tight control under the country’s former rulers.“We are working to consolidate freedoms of the press and expression that were severely restricted” in areas controlled by the former government of Bashar al-Assad, said the minister, Mohamed al-Omar, after Islamist-led opposition forces on December 8 ended more than five decades of rule by the Assad clan.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Syria’s ruling Baath party and the Assad family dynasty heavily curtailed all aspects of daily life, including freedom of the press and expression with the media a tool of those in power.Reporters Without Borders, a freedom of information watchdog, ranked Syria second-last on its 2024 World Press Freedom Index, ahead only of Eritrea and behind Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.“There was a