January 5, 2012
January 5, 2012
Syrian authorities on Thursday have released 552 people who were detained over their involvement in political unrest and who have “no blood on their hands,” the official SANA news agency reported.
“(Syria) released 552 people who were involved in recent events whose hands were not stained with blood,” state television reported in a news flash.
“The released persons are not involved in terrorist bloody acts of killings and explosions against Syrians,” it added.
The move follows another release last week, when state television reported that the authorities released 755 prisoners from jail, as Arab League observers deployed in anti-regime protest hubs to implement the peace roadmap.
SANA said that 2,645 prisoners were also released in November.
Releasing prisoners, alongside the removal of army tanks from the streets, is one of the key conditions of an Arab League roadmap approved by Syria in November to end the country’s crisis. The accord also calls for an end to repression of pro-democracy protests.
A team of Arab League observers has been in Syria since December 26 trying to assess the regime’s implementation of a peace agreement signed by both sides aimed at ending violence in the country.
The United Nations estimated last month that more than 5,000 people have been killed in the Syrian government’s crackdown, led by embattled president Bashar al-Assad, since March when pro-democracy protests erupted. Rights groups and the United Nations estimate that during the protests, several thousand people have been arrested for their involvement in the unrest.
By AL ARABIYA WITH AGENCIES
