Assad issues general amnesty for military deserters, minor offences

Syria’s President, Bashar Al-Assad, has issued a general amnesty for military deserters and those charged with minor offences, in the latest such move which many see as a false promise to lure in returnees to the country.

According to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), President Assad and his regime announced a general amnesty granting full pardons for those convicted of desertion under Syria’s military penal code – both inside and outside the country – and for those charged with or jailed for minor offences prior to 22 September this year.

The amnesty, in relation to crimes aside from desertion, reportedly applies to minor offences and violations while excluding serious crimes affecting public safety and state security, including bribery, forgery, public indecency and some theft. With regards to crimes involving attacks on personal property, it stated that the victims must be compensated.

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The decree also stipulates that fugitives or those in hiding will not benefit from the amnesty, unless they hand themselves in within three months for those inside the country, or within four months for those living abroad.

This is the latest such amnesty issued by Assad, with the reported aim of not only presenting to the international community an apparent willingness to forgive old divisions and move toward greater unity in the country’s future, but also of further enticing army deserters and refugees who fled the country or regime-held territories to return with a guarantee of reconciliation.

Many continue to view such offers with increasing speculation, particularly as the Syrian security services are notorious for betraying such reconciliation agreements and arresting, detaining, torturing and, sometimes, killing returnees.

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