LATEST: Video — Near-Miss for Cameraman From Shelling of Damascus Suburb of Darayya
TUESDAY FEATURE
The Phony Election & Assad’s Victory
UPDATE 1700 GMT Lawyer Anwar al-Bunni has said implementation of President Assad’s amnesty has begun.
“Dozens of prisoners began to be released from Adra prison (northeast of Damascus) yesterday and the releases will continue today,” al-Bunni said.
The lawyer explained, “The anti-terrorism tribunal and criminal courts are sending lists of the prisoners to be released to the prisons, and security services are handling the lists of those to be released from their facilities.”
The Assad regime has followed up last week’s nominal re-election of the President with a gesture of reconciliation, declaring an amnesty for detainees.
Official accounts of the Presidential decree varied. State TV said it was “a general amnesty” for all crimes except for “acts of terrorism”.
However, State news agency SANA offered another description, saying the amnesty also applied to foreign fighters who joined the insurgency within the past month and to those who had carried out kidnappings if the victims are released within the next month.
According to SANA, the “amnesty” would be a sentence reduction rather than freedom in many cases. Death penalties would be decreased to life with penal labor and life terms to 20-year sentences. Prisoners with terminal illnesses and those who are older than 70 will be freed.
No details were given of any planned releases. Previous amnesties have been announced without any subsequent indication of action.
The regime announced last week that it had freed 340 detainees after breaking the siege of Aleppo Central Prison last month.
Activists, human rights groups, and other observers have accused the regime of holding thousands of political prisoners and killing at least 11,000 detainees since the start of the conflict in March 2011.
Video: Insurgent Assault Continues on Tel al-Jumou in Daraa Province
Insurgents are continuing their assault with heavy firepower on the hilltop Tel al-Jumou in southern Syria.
Opposition fighters have been attacking with tanks, rocket launchers, missiles, and artillery as they try to consolidate their hold on territory between Quneitra and Daraa.
Video: Near-Miss for Cameraman From Shelling of Damascus Suburb of Darayya
A shell explodes close to a cameraman in the Damascus suburb of Darayya:
Regime forces have stepped up aerial and ground bombardment of areas near Damascus in the past week.
See Syria Daily, June 6: Regime Airstrikes Near Damascus
See Syria Daily, June 9: The Insurgent Assault on Tel al-Jumou in the South
