Crimes committed before June 20 to be reprieved, state news agency says
Syria’s president has ordered amnesty for people accused of crimes allegedly committed up until June 20, the country’s state news agency reports. The move comes just a few weeks after Bashar al-Assad first offered amnesty on May 31 for all political prisoners in the country, including members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Human rights groups have criticized the amnesty offers as merely symbolic and part of the Syrian government’s overtures to the opposition. The amnesty order came one day after Assad said in a televised address that reform demands were legitimate, but that armed gangs were to blame for the violence in the country. Rights groups say more than 1,300 civilians have been killed in the Syrian authorities’ crackdown on protesters, while at least 10,000 more refugees have fled the country, crossing the border into Turkey.