Syrian opposition skeptical of Assad’s amnesty decision

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says he will pardon army deserters and release political detainees from prison, but his credibility is lacking because of his past reversals.
A woman reacts as she looks at a gruesome collection of images of dead bodies taken by a photographer, who has been identified by the code name "Caesar," at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, March 10, 2015. The pictures were smuggled out of Syria between 2011 and mid-2013. The exhibition at the UN consists of two dozen images selected from the roughly 55,000 photographs taken in Syria by a former military police photographer - some showing eye gougings, strangulation and long-term starvation - as
A woman reacts as she looks at a gruesome collection of images of dead bodies taken by a photographer, who has been identified by the code name "Caesar," at the United Nations Headquarters, New York, US, March 10, 2015. - REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
KhaledAlKhateb.jpg
Khaled al-Khateb
@khaleedalkhteb
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ALEPPO, Syria — The Syrian opposition is doubting the veracity of President Bashar al-Assad's recent decree promising amnesty or reduced sentences for certain crimes. The pertinent question is: Will this decree be any different from his other "pardons" issued throughout the Syrian revolution?

Syrian state news agency SANA reported that Assad agreed Sept. 15 to grant general amnesty for many crimes committed before Sept. 14. Under the decree, many criminal offenses are mostly pardoned, and partial pardons are to be granted for some but not all terrorism-related crimes. Death sentences supposedly will be reduced to life sentences with hard labor, and life sentences are to be cut to 20 years.

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