Reply #4: Aljazeera: Syrian president issues amnesty

[pampango]

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/05/2011531173212337652.html

Syrian president Bashar al Assad has issued a general amnesty aimed at calming 10 weeks of protests against his rule and a deadly military crackdown that has rocked the nation. The amnesty decree is believed to be a part of the overtures by the Syrian government to its opposition, largely seen as symbolic.

The amnesty announcement was also shrugged off by Syrian opposition activists gathered in Turkey to discuss democratic change and voice support for the revolt. "This measure is insufficient: we demanded this amnesty several years ago, but it's late in coming," activist Abdel Razak Eid told the AFP news agency. "We are united under the slogan: the people want the fall of the regime and all those who have committed crimes brought to account. Blood will not have been spilled in vain," he said.

The European Union last week slapped an assets freeze and travel ban on Assad himself, the latest in a string of sanctions against his regime. Stepping up pressure on Assad to halt weeks of relentless violence, the EU earlier this month imposed an arms embargo and targeted the president's innermost circle, including his brother and four cousins.

But it is also seen as an appeal to protesters, as one of their main demands has been the release of political prisoners, along with others such as curbing the power of Syrian security forces. "It is one of the most important demands because people are spending many years in prison because of their demands for the human rights of our people," Anwar Al Bunni, a lawyer and human rights activist in Syria who spent five years in jail before being released last week, told Al Jazeera. Bunni said that while amnesty for political prisoners is an important step, Syria needs to undergo many more changes.


nesty has been granted to all those politically criminalised before May 31