الرئيسية
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has offered amnesty to anyone
accused of alleged crimes in connection with the last 10 months of
anti-government unrest and resulting violence.
Assad has made similar decrees on three previous occasions in May,
June and November. Sunday's announcement was made on the official SANA
news agency and broadcast on state television.
Since the outbreak of the uprising against Assad's rule in March,
Assad has freed 3,952 prisoners, according to SANA. The opposition
claims there are thousands more in Syrian prisons and said that 26
people had died on Sunday, including a policeman and soldier killed by
security forces for refusing to fire on protesters.
The new amnesty decree was granted "for crimes committed in the
context of the events taking place since March 15, 2011, till the date
of issuing the decree", SANA reported.
It encompasses those who have peacefully demonstrated, evaded Syria's
military draft or carried unlicensed weapons and ammunition. But the
"fugitives" covered by the decree must turn themselves in to authorities
by January 31, SANA said.
The United Nations estimates at least 5,000 people have been killed
since initially peaceful protests against Assad's government were met by
a brutal security crackdown, sparking an ongoing armed conflict in
which both the military and the opposition, which includes army
defectors, have conducted attacks.
Assad heading for 'dead end'
Meanwhile on Sunday, the secretary-general of the United Nations
called on Assad to end the crackdown against anti-government protesters.
"Today, I say again to President Assad of Syria: Stop the violence.
Stop killing your people. The path of repression is a dead end," Ban
Ki-moon said in a keynote address at a conference on Arab world
democracy in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
Ban also said that the revolutions in the Arab world showed that people would no longer accept tyranny.
accused of alleged crimes in connection with the last 10 months of
anti-government unrest and resulting violence.
Assad has made similar decrees on three previous occasions in May,
June and November. Sunday's announcement was made on the official SANA
news agency and broadcast on state television.
Since the outbreak of the uprising against Assad's rule in March,
Assad has freed 3,952 prisoners, according to SANA. The opposition
claims there are thousands more in Syrian prisons and said that 26
people had died on Sunday, including a policeman and soldier killed by
security forces for refusing to fire on protesters.
The new amnesty decree was granted "for crimes committed in the
context of the events taking place since March 15, 2011, till the date
of issuing the decree", SANA reported.
It encompasses those who have peacefully demonstrated, evaded Syria's
military draft or carried unlicensed weapons and ammunition. But the
"fugitives" covered by the decree must turn themselves in to authorities
by January 31, SANA said.
The United Nations estimates at least 5,000 people have been killed
since initially peaceful protests against Assad's government were met by
a brutal security crackdown, sparking an ongoing armed conflict in
which both the military and the opposition, which includes army
defectors, have conducted attacks.
Assad heading for 'dead end'
Meanwhile on Sunday, the secretary-general of the United Nations
called on Assad to end the crackdown against anti-government protesters.
"Today, I say again to President Assad of Syria: Stop the violence.
Stop killing your people. The path of repression is a dead end," Ban
Ki-moon said in a keynote address at a conference on Arab world
democracy in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
Ban also said that the revolutions in the Arab world showed that people would no longer accept tyranny.