Damascus: Political prisoners to be released soon

High-ranking Syrian sources told the London-based al-Hayat daily that the next few days will witness the release of several political prisoners in Syria, according to the pardon released by President al-Assad last week.

The Syrian sources added that ultimately the pardon will result in releasing "hundreds" of political prisoners.

The sources stated that the "special committees are studying the files of several prisoners to make sure that their situations comply with the text of the pardon, but under the condition that they had not used weapons against the state and did not take part in military operations," at the beginning of the 1980.

The sources noted that for the first time President al-Assad did not exclude, crimes committed against the state's security, in contrary to previous pardons, the last of which was issued in 1995 and resulted in the release of some 1,500 political prisoners.

Moreover, a high ranking Syrian official told al-Hayat that the pardon covers 225,000, including some 500 persons who were arrested under martial law, 65,568 in supply cases, 127,000 in small crimes cases, 4,631 cases presented before the military court, 2,253 before the economic court, and another 25,000 different cases.