Damascus: Pardon covers 220,000 persons
Syria, Politics, 7/19/1999

Well-informed sources in Damascus told the London-based al-Hayat daily that the general pardon enacted by Syrian President Hafez al-Assad last week resulted in the release of hundreds of political prisoners, some 500 persons detained as a result of the martial law and 225,000 persons.

A high-ranking Syrian official told the London-based al-Hayat daily that previous presidential pardons "excluded crimes targeting the state, but the recent pardon released by President Hafez al-Assad on July 12 did not have a text on such an exemption, and as a result hundreds of political prisoners were freed who did not carry weapons against the government at the beginning of the 80s."

He indicated that those who were released are from the Muslim Brothers group, the Communist Labor League (Rabitat al-Amal al-Sheyoui), the Kurdish People's Federation and other parties.

The Syrian officials continued that "hundreds rather than thousands" of these parties' supporters "who are sentenced are also to be released in line with this pardon, which governs everyone who commits an act described as a crime."

The Syrian official continued that, "Hundreds of Jordanians or Palestinians who were arrested under a non-political crime were also released according to this pardon."

This is President al-Assad's second pardon in five years. On December 20, 1995 President al-Assad enacted a general pardon that governed some 1,500 Muslim Brothers and thousands who were sentenced in economic corruption cases, while the recent pardon covered more than 225,000 cases debated in the court before March 11, the date when President al-Assad took his oath for his fifth term as president.

Previous Stories:
  On President al-Assad's pardon   (7/15/1999)
  Al-Assad's pardon covers all Jordanians, most Palestinians   (7/13/1999)
  President al-Assad issues pardon   (7/13/1999)

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