Categories: Middle East

Syria’s Assad Pardons Hundreds of Prisoners

Hundreds of Syrians were released from government prisons after receiving amnesty from President Bashar al-Assad in a move to mark his re-election this week, a monitoring group said.

The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 320 prisoners were released from Northern Aleppo Central prison on Wednesday as President Assad’s victory in presidential elections was announced, the Express Tribune reported.

The Britain-based group said 480 other prisoners, including 80 women, would be freed from Adra prison in Damascus province.

Several dozen were freed Friday from Adra, while the rest of the 480 slated to walk free were transferred to a municipal building pending their release, the monitoring group said.

The Observatory said that all the Adra prisoners to be released had been held on charges of “terrorism”.

On Wednesday, Syrian officials announced that President al-Assad has been re-elected in a landslide, capturing another seven-year term.

Syria’s parliament speaker Jihad Laham announced the final results from Tuesday’s election, saying Assad garnered 10,319,723 votes, representing almost 89 percent of the total votes.

Emad Askarieh

Emad Askarieh has worked as a journalist since 2002. The main focus of his work is foreign policy and world diplomacy. He started his career at Iran Front Page Media Group, and is currently serving as the World Editor and the Vice-President for Executive Affairs at the Iran Front Page (IFP) news website.

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