Al- Miqdad sends a message to counterparts and to the United Nations about the recent general amnesty

On May 18th, Dr. Faisal Al-Miqdad, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, sent a letter to many foreign ministers in the brotherly Arab countries and countries of the world and to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the President of the Security Council regarding Legislative Decree No. 7 issued by President Bashar al-Assad on April 30, 2022 granting a general amnesty for terrorist crimes committed by the Syrians before this date.

Minister Al-Miqdad shed light on the important developments in Syria, which fall within the framework of the measures taken by the Syrian state for years in the field of achieving national reconciliation, the return of the displaced and refugees to their homeland and their homes, and the reintegration of all Syrian citizens into their local communities. 

Minister Al-Miqdad stressed that Amnesty Decree No. 7 is different from previous amnesty decrees and is exceptional in its legal, social and political nature. 

Minister Al-Miqdad’s message included a detailed explanation of the measures that all the special Syrian authorities took immediately in the framework of implementing the provisions of this decree. 

He confirmed that the Ministry of Justice and the competent legal and judicial authorities in Syria have begun implementing the content of the amnesty decree in all parts of the country, and Syrians inside and outside the country benefit from it. 

Minister Al-Miqdad stressed that the competent judicial and legal authorities in the Syrian Arab Republic immediately began, in implementation of the provisions of the decree, to cancel allwarrants of prosecution, search, arrest, summons in absentia, judgment notes and judgments in absentia issued against any Syrian citizen inside and outside Syria, with immediate effect and without the need to review any Judicial, security or legal department. 

The Minister explained that Amnesty Decree No. 7 included Syrian citizens exclusively and excluded foreign terrorists, based on the Syrian state’s commitment to maintaining regional and international peace and security and its keenness not to re-export these foreign terrorists to other countries. 

The letter included a reminder of the previous amnesty decrees issued by President al-Assad since 2011 until today, which amounted to twenty general amnesty decrees that benefited tens of thousands of Syrian citizens inside and outside the country, as detainees were released from the Terrorism Court after the lawsuits against them were dropped. 

Minister Miqdad indicated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates had requested all Syrian diplomatic and consular missions abroad to receive all Syrian expatriate citizens wishing to benefit from all general amnesty decrees, including the recent amnesty decree on terrorist crimes. 

Minister Al-Miqdad explained to his counterparts the artificial obstacles that still stand in the way of Syria in the areas of achieving economic and social stability, foremost among which is the illegal foreign military presence of the Turkish and American forces and the forces of the so-called “international coalition” and the control of the separatist militias affiliated with the United States of America over oil and gas fields and agricultural lands. 

At the conclusion of his message, Minister Al-Miqdad called on the United Nations and the countries of the world to study what is being achieved in Syria in a deep and balanced way and to cooperate with the Syrian state and support its efforts in developing a positive, constructive and productive political approach in dealing with the situation in Syria. 

O. al-Mohammad