Newly re-elected Assad announces prisoner amnesty

President Bashar al-Assad of Syria issued a decree yesterday granting “a general amnesty” for all crimes except “acts of terrorism,” Syrian state television reported.

According to SANA, the state news agency, the amnesty decreed on Monday applied to “foreigners who entered Syria with the purpose of joining a terrorist group or committing a terrorist act,” provided they turn themselves in to the authorities within a month.

The amnesty was announced on state television five days after Assad was announced re-elected with nearly 90 percent in a ballot denounced as a farce by much of the international community.

Assad has issued several amnesties since protests against his rule erupted in March 2011. The demonstrations triggered a crackdown by his security forces and the conflict descended into a civil war which has killed more than 160,000 people.

Opponents say only a fraction of detainees were released in previous amnesties, leaving many thousands of people including political opponents and activists as well as ordinary criminals in prison, where they say many are subjected to abuse.