The Syrian Network for Human Rights documented the Syrian regime’s release of 539 detainees from various civilian and military prisons, as well as security branches in various Syrian governorates; those released included 61 women and 16 people who had been children at the time of their arrest. All were released between May 1, 2022 and June 13, 2022 following the regime’s issuing of pardon decree No. 7 for the year 2022.
Among the 539 released are 158 individuals who had agreed to security settlements prior to their arrest and had received promises in return that they would not be subjected to harassment by security branches. Twenty-eight of those released, including four women, had been refugees or living abroad and were arrested following their return to Syria.
SNHR calls on the international community to pressure the Syrian regime to release over 132,000 individuals still detained by the Regime, including 87,000 who are classified as forcibly disappeared.
The Syrian regime must put an end to all exceptional courts and abolish all sentences issued by these courts, which have violated many of the fundamental rights of Syrian citizens. We don’t believe that any of this will happen without a political transition towards democracy that brings an end to the security branches’ control and brutality.
Photo taken in May 2022 showing gatherings of the families of detainees and forcibly disappeared at President’s Bridge area in Damascus city, waiting for the release of their family members from Syrian regime’s detention centers, or getting information regarding their fate (Source of the image: AFP).
