Assad decrees general amnesty on 'all crimes'

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Tuesday decreed a general amnesty for members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood and for political prisoners, but the opposition swiftly dismissed the measure as "too little too late." "President Assad has by decree issued an amnesty on all (political) crimes committed before May 31, 2011," the official SANA news agency reported. "The amnesty applies to all political prisoners as well as to the Muslim Brotherhood." The announcement, which comes after two months of deadly anti-regime protests, was shrugged off by Syrian opposition activists gathered in Turkey to discuss democratic change and voice support for the revolt. "This measure is insufficient: we demanded this amnesty several years ago, but it's late in coming," said Abdel Razak Eid, an activist from the "Damascus Declaration," a reformist group launched in 2005 to demand democratic change. "We are united under the slogan: the people want the fall of the regime and all those who have committed crimes brought to account. Blood will not have been spilled in vain," he said. The release of political prisoners has been a central demand of protesters who, inspired by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, have since March 15 been staging almost daily demonstrations against Assad's autocratic government More than 1,100 civilians have been killed and at least 10,000 arrested in a brutal crackdown by the regime on the protests, human rights organisations say. The announcement of the amnesty came soon after a senior official in Syria's ruling Baath party reportedly said that a committee for national dialogue in the troubled country would be set up within 48 hours. Al-Watan daily, which is close to the government, quoted party number two Mohammed Said Bkhetan as telling a Baath party meeting that the committee's members would be wide-ranging. "The committee for dialogue is composed of all political currents, and people from political and economic life and society in general will take part," it quoted him as saying. "The mechanisms of the dialogue will be announced within 48 hours," he said. The opposition has previously dismissed calls for dialogue, saying that this can take place once only the violence ends, political prisoners are freed and reforms adopted. Bkhetan said the number of people protesting in Syria was no more than 100,000, out of an overall population of around 22 million. "It's the same people demonstrating every time. They protest at night, shouting 'Allahu akbar' (God is greatest) as well as every Friday, but we must bring a swift end to this as we are under enormous pressure," he added. The government insists the unrest is the work of "armed terrorist gangs" backed by Islamists and foreign agitators. The authorities initially responded to the revolt by offering some concessions, including lifting the state of emergency in place for nearly five decades, but coupled this with a fierce crackdown. A human rights activist earlier Tuesday said that machine-gun fire reverberated around the town of Rastan near the central city of Homs as military operations continued for a third straight day. "Machine-gun fire was heard in Rastan. Search and cordon operations are continuing in the town," the activist said on condition of anonymity, adding that explosions too were heard. He said that residents of the town had attacked a police station and seized weapons near the place where a girl, identified as Hajar al-Khatib, and 10 other civilians were killed on Sunday. Since dawn on Sunday, dozens of tanks have surrounded the two towns and the village of Teir Maaleh to quell the protests around Homs, Syria's third largest city, 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of Damascus. Foreign journalists are barred from travelling around Syria, making it difficult to report on the unrest and verify witness accounts. Syria has come under increasing pressure internationally to end its crackdown and allow peaceful demonstrations. European nations are pressing a campaign to get the Security Council to warn Damascus that its actions against demonstrators could constitute crimes against humanity. The European Union last week slapped an assets freeze and travel ban on Assad himself, the latest in a string of measures against his regime. Stepping up pressure on Assad to halt weeks of relentless violence, the EU earlier this month imposed an arms embargo and targeted the president's innermost circle, including his brother and four cousins. United Nations rights chief Navi Pillay on Monday said the crackdown was shocking in its disregard for human rights. "The brutality and magnitude of measures taken by the governments in Libya and now Syria have been particularly shocking in their outright disregard for basic human rights," Pillay told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday joined US President Barack Obama's call for Assad to lead the protest-hit nation's transition to democracy or step down. From Middle east online