A Syrian court said on Sunday it had accepted requests from President Bashar al-Assad and two other candidates to be **minated to run in a presidential election next month. Assad's challengers are unlikely to pose a serious threat to the president in the June 3 vote, which his international opponents and the rebels fighting to overthrow him have dismissed as a farce. Syria's opposition leaders in exile are barred from standing by a constitutional clause requiring candidates to have lived in the country continuously for 10 years. The Supreme Constitutional court had accepted **mination requests from Assad as well as Hassan Abdallah al-**uri and lawmaker Maher Abdel-Hafiz Hajjar, court spokesman Majid Khadra said in statements broadcast on state television.