Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has decreed a general amnesty for political prisoners, a move dismissed by the opposition and Washington, as the crackdown on dissent claimed more lives.
"President Assad has by decree issued an amnesty on all (political) crimes committed before May 31, 2011," the official SANA news agency reported yesterday.
"The amnesty applies to all political prisoners as well as to the Muslim Brotherhood."
The announcement, after two months of deadly anti-regime protests, was shrugged off by Syrian opposition activists gathered in Turkey.
"This measure is insufficient: we demanded this amnesty several years ago, but it's late in coming," said Abdel Razak Eid, an activist from the Damascus Declaration, a reformist group launched in 2005 to demand democratic change.
"We are united under the slogan: the people want the fall of the regime and all those who have committed crimes brought to account. AFP
