Damascus Syrian President Bashar Al Assad on Monday announced a “general amnesty” for all crimes committed to date, state television said, without giving further details.
The channel cited Justice Minister Najem Al Ahmad as saying the decree was issued in the context of “social forgiveness, national cohesion calls for coexistence, as the army secures several military victories.”
It was not immediately clear who would be included in the amnesty. Rights groups say the Syrian government is holding tens of thousands of prisoners in jails where torture and other abuses are systematic.
Since the outbreak of an anti-Al Assad revolt in March 2011, the regime has branded all dissidents as “terrorists”, jailing thousands arbitrarily, according to human rights organisations.
The regime previously issued amnesties on May 31 and June 21, 2011. Two other amnesties were announced, on January 15 and April 16, 2013. Meanwhile, activists say rebel infighting in Syria has killed 45 opposition fighters over the past two days. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the fighting flared up in eastern Deir Al Zor province on Sunday and continued into Monday.
The Observatory says the clashes pitted Al Qaida’s affiliate the Al Nusra Front against the Al Qaida breakaway Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
The two jihadi groups were allies but had a falling out earlier this year and have since intermittently clashed in some of the fiercest rebel infighting in the Syrian civil war.
The Observatory says a month of infighting in Deir Al Zor alone has killed nearly 300 fighters and displaced 100,000 civilians.
It has also weakened the Syrian opposition’s resolve to overthrow Al Assad.
