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.
Syria's Assad
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.
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