The Big Heart

 For the fifth time in two years, H.E. President Bashar Al-Assad issued a general amnesty decree setting free the convicted serving their prison sentences.

President Al-Assad’s Legislative Decree Numbered 23 issued on April 16th, 2013 came to crown a series of amnesty and pardoning measures taken including the latest governmental measures to renew the passports of all the Syrians abroad and  allow the free return of all who left because of the ongoing two-year crisis or before it.

Today’s general amnesty, in tandem with the Syrians celebration of Independence Day, included the convicted of criminal acts before April 16: convicts on death row would have their sentences reduced to life imprisonment with hard labor, those with incurable diseases or old age would be pardoned.

The Presidential Decree, further, pardons those who turn over their arms, and those who have deserted their military conscription duty.

The Syrian citizens, said H.E. President Al-Assad in a speech to the Parliament on March 30, 2011, ”have always been the linkage between the internal and foreign policies; the citizens are the compass for us in anything that we do,” addressing them on January 11, 2012: “I do feel the same love to you as you feel towards me. I wish that God would have granted me a very big heart capable to give the more of amity and love to this great people.”

Dr. Mohammad Abdo Al-Ibrahim