The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

SOHR: Stories of loss and hope in the open.. Families gather in Damascus, waiting for prisoners included in a presidential pardon

Dozens of Syrians spent their nights in the open near a bridge in Damascus, waiting for the arrival of their relatives among the prisoners covered by the presidential amnesty law, of whom the Ministry of Justice announced the release of hundreds.

Dozens of Syrians spent their nights in the open near a bridge in Damascus, waiting for the arrival of their relatives among the prisoners covered by the presidential amnesty law, of whom the Ministry of Justice announced the release of hundreds.

And the French news agency quoted that hundreds of men and women gathered on Tuesday afternoon in an area that is a major starting point for buses to various provinces, and then spent the night in the same place.

The scene under the President’s Bridge in Damascus has become tragic, as families have been waiting for days in the open after the arrival of batches of detainees released on buses after many years of detention in prisons.

Young men climbed the bridge and women slept on the ground in a nearby park, waiting to hear news or the arrival of prisoners, some of whom have been detained for more than 10 years.

Last Saturday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree to “grant a general amnesty for terrorist crimes committed by Syrians”, except for those that led to the death of a human being.

The decree, according to activists, is considered the most comprehensive in relation to “terrorism” crimes, as it does not include exceptions, as was customary in previous decrees.

And Syrian accounts – via communication platforms – broadcast footage from the President Bridge area in the Syrian capital, Damascus, of the people flocking to the place to wait for the buses carrying the newly released detainees.

Earlier, the Ministry of Justice stated – in a statement – that “hundreds of prisoners arrested from various Syrian governorates have been released,” provided that all those covered by the amnesty will be released “sequentially during the coming days” pending completion of the procedures.

The ministry did not publish lists of names or numbers of those covered by the amnesty.

“I have been waiting for my five children and my husband since 2014. I handed them over to my Lord,” said Umm Maher.

“Six people have no camels or camels. We have nothing to do with terrorism. The eldest of them is 25 years old and the youngest is 15,” she added bluntly.

Like Umm Maher, Umm Abdo is anxious to see her two sons, who do not know anything about their fate since their disappearance in 2013 after they went to work. “I hope they will return, we have not harmed anyone in our lives,” she says.

She continued, with a wide smile, to my neighbor, “Hold me if you see them, I might pass out… I don’t know if I will recognize them or not.”

 

Some families have not received any information about their relatives who have been detained for years (French)

long time

Today, Wednesday, the Ministry of Justice confirmed that all prisoners and detainees who are covered by a general amnesty for terrorist crimes will be released successively in the coming days.

For its part, Syrian human rights sources revealed to the German News Agency that “the process of releasing detainees may continue until the end of this May or mid-June, so it is difficult for families to wait in the squares.”

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 250 detainees have so far been released under the amnesty decree.

Some of them were released from the notorious Sednaya prison.

Syrian researcher Muhammad al-Sukari tweeted: “I said two days ago that the Syrian regime does not respond to a massacre by releasing the detainees, but rather with another massacre. What is happening at the ‘President’ Bridge or the ‘Detainees’ Bridge is a real massacre of detainees, their families, their loved ones and their companions from all Syrians.” A mass massacre in Hafr al-Assad, which will only be repaid with his fall.”

Journalist Dia Odeh also wrote: “These sons arrested the ‘President’, and ‘The President’ tortured them, and now he is playing on their nerves and their tragedies under his father’s ‘President’s Bridge’.”

For his part, activist Zilal Qatee’ tweeted, “At first glance, you think it is a festival to entertain the Syrian people, or an event on the occasion of Eid. It is nothing but a waiting for a death certificate, an absentee who does not return, or young people who have spent their lives in prisons. Hundreds of families are waiting near the President’s Bridge in Damascus for the arrival of the batches of the released detainees.

The presidential pardon came after the British newspaper The Guardian and the Newlines Institute published last week horrific videos dating back to 2013 showing the liquidation of dozens of people at the hands of government forces in the Tadamon neighborhood in Damascus.

The issue of detainees and missing persons is one of the most complex files of the Syrian conflict.

The conflict – since its outbreak in 2011 – has killed about half a million people, caused massive damage to infrastructure, and led to the displacement of millions of people inside and outside the country.

 

 

Source: Teller Report