Bashar al-Assad’s recent amnesty decree has come under scrutiny, with critics arguing that it fails to guarantee safe returns for Syrians.
Hadi Al-Bahra, President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC), has strongly criticized the move, claiming that these amnesty decrees are designed to create a facade of reconciliation while giving security agencies broad powers to manipulate the fates of individuals supposedly covered by the orders.
In an op-ed published by Al-Jazeera.net, Al-Bahra argues that charges like “terrorism” and “high treason,” often fabricated by the regime against political opponents, remain excluded from these decrees, leaving many political detainees and activists unprotected.
Assad Issues General Amnesty Amid Continued Detainee Crisis and Political Repression
Human rights groups have long warned that individuals returning to Syria under the promise of amnesty have faced arrest, torture, or worse upon arrival in regime-controlled areas. Al-Bahra insists that without independent judicial oversight, these decrees serve more as tools for entrapment and extortion than genuine efforts at justice or reconciliation.
Al-Bahra calls on the international community to adopt a firmer stance toward the Syrian government, conditioning any engagement with Damascus on concrete progress toward a political solution in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2254. He asserts that Syria’s stability can only be achieved through a comprehensive political transition that ensures the rights of all Syrians and ends the regime’s policies of repression and arbitrary detention.
Without such measures, Bahra warns, Syria will remain trapped in conflict, with the regime continuing to exploit legal and political instruments to maintain its grip on power.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
