DAMASCUS- Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has decreed a general amnesty for crimes committed during unrest in the country over the past 10 months, the official SANA news agency said on Sunday.
“President Assad issued a decree stipulating a general amnesty for crimes committed during the events between March 15, 2011 and Jan 15, 2012,” SANA reported. Assad’s regime has been rocked by a popular uprising since March, and the UN estimated in mid-Dec that a crackdown on the movement has killed more than 5,000 people.