‘Syria slow to free prisoners despite coronavirus risk in crowded jails’
amman — Syria is dragging its feet on releasing prisoners under an amnesty declared by President Bashar Al Assad, raising fears of mass infections if the new coronavirus spreads through its overcrowded jails, rights groups said on Monday.
The Damascus government has confirmed only 19 cases of infection from the global pandemic, with two deaths. But with a health system ravaged by almost a decade of civil war, it is widely feared Syria will not be able to contain the coronavirus.
The United Nations envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, last week pointed to the risk of Covid-19, the highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, racing through the country’s prisons and urged quick action to free prisoners.
An amnesty declared by Assad on March 22 expanded the range of crimes covered by an amnesty announced last September.
But human rights groups said only a few hundred people jailed for common crimes had been released so far in what they called a token gesture to deflect calls on Damascus to follow the lead of other states, including its close ally Iran, that have freed tens of thousands as the virus has swept the world.
“The Syrian regime seeks to circumvent the pressures it is facing from organizations and states that fear the spread of Covid-19 in the ranks of detainees,” Fadel Abdul Ghany, chairman of the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), told Reuters.
He said none of those freed were civic activists or others among the tens of thousands of political prisoners detained since the outbreak of Syria’s conflict, which began with peaceful protests against Assad’s rule.