Syrian Leader Declares ‘General Amnesty’ for Prisoners
By ANNE BARNARDJUNE 9, 2014
BEIRUT, Lebanon — President Bashar al-Assad of Syria issued a decree on Monday granting “a general amnesty” for all crimes except for “acts of terrorism,” Syrian state television reported, raising tentative hopes among Syrians with relatives in detention.
The government has offered amnesties before that did not lead to the release of the tens of thousands of people whom human rights advocates say have been detained or imprisoned during the unrest in the country. But the timing of the latest decree raised higher hope: it came just after Mr. Assad won a new term in office, a moment when Syrian officials have been hinting that grievances might be addressed.
Opponents and Western officials dismissed the presidential election on June 3 as a farce, but Mr. Assad’s allies claimed it was democratic, and before the balloting, the government tried to calm conditions in the country through localized truces with opponents, a process the government called reconciliation.
Reports about the amnesty in the Syrian state news media did not say specifically whether it would affect the many Syrians who, by the rights advocates’ accounts, are being held without charge for political reasons or have been charged with offenses like delivering humanitarian aid to opposition-controlled areas or attending protests.
There are believed to be hundreds, if not thousands, of groups fighting in Syria. These opposition groups are fighting the Assad regime, but recently turned on each other with increased ferocity.
The state media said the amnesty would include all crimes other than terrorism. Government officials and state media reports have often used the term terrorism to refer to any act of resistance against the government. But in recent months, some have begun referring to Syrian insurgents as gunmen rather than terrorists, a softening of language that, for example, allowed government officials to make a deal in May allowing opposition fighters to leave besieged parts of Homs, a city in central Syria.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/10/world/middleeast/syrian-leader-assad-declares-amnesty-for-prisoners.html
