Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
on Monday announced a "general amnesty" for all "crimes" committed to date, a week after a controversial election held amid raging conflict, state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
said.
The amnesty decree is the most wide-ranging since the beginning of a revolt against Assad in March 2011, and for the first time extends to those accused under Syria's controversial July 2012 anti-terrorism law.
The government has dubbed all those opposed to Assad's rule -- armed opposition fighters and peaceful activists alike -- of "terrorism", and used the law to imprison high-profile dissidents.
Should the amnesty be applied, tens of thousands of prisoners held because of their opposition to the regime are expected to be freed.
But rights groups have said previous amnesties were not fully implemented, leaving tens of thousands still languishing in jail.
Previous amnesties had excluded "terrorists" and "runaways".
A human rights
...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions...
lawyer and activist in Damascus said the decree should extend to both those who have been sentenced and to the many thousands being held without charge in security establishments across the country.
It is also the first amnesty that offers clemency to foreign jihadists fighting for the opposition, as long as they hand themselves in within a month.