Syrian President Ahmed Shara has signed a large-scale general amnesty decree across the country on the occasion of the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan.
Operative Information Center-OMM reports that under the new decision, significant mitigations in the prison terms of convicts are envisioned.
According to the details of the decree, life sentences have been reduced to 20 years, while temporary hard labor sentences have been cut by half.
At the same time, penalties for a number of administrative offenses and minor crimes have been completely abolished. The amnesty document also applies to individuals involved in smuggling, certain cybercrimes, violations of currency regulation rules, and those conducting illegal transactions with foreign currency other than the Syrian pound.
A special condition has been established for those convicted of illegal possession of weapons and ammunition. Individuals who voluntarily surrender their weapons to the authorized bodies within three months from the date the decree comes into force will have their sentences fully pardoned. For those involved in kidnapping to benefit from the amnesty, the victim must be released without any compensation, and the perpetrators must surrender within the specified period.
It should be noted that individuals who have committed human trafficking, torture, serious crimes against the people, and other particularly grave offenses are excluded from the scope of this amnesty decree.
Such amnesties are traditionally issued in many Muslim-majority countries during significant religious holidays, such as Ramadan, as a gesture of goodwill and social reconciliation. In the context of Syria, which has faced over a decade of internal conflict and political transition, these measures are often viewed as attempts to stabilize the domestic situation and integrate certain groups back into society. The holy month of Ramadan, characterized by fasting, prayer, and reflection, serves as a symbolic period for such legislative acts of clemency.
