DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria's state news agency SANA says President Bashar Assad has granted amnesty for all crimes committed before Sept. 14.
According to the pardon issued Sunday, life-long terms would replace death sentences, and a 20-year-long sentence at hard labor would replace life-long sentences at hard labor, and a 20-year sentence would replace long-life sentences.
Prisoners with incurable diseases including cancer would be freed.
The decree stipulates for granting a general amnesty for military deserters to turn themselves in within 3 months for those inside the country, and 6 months for those outside the country.
Similar amnesties have been issued on several occasions — most recently last year — since Syria's crisis began in March 2011.