Syria issues amnesty to stem Assad protests

Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has issued a general amnesty that includes all political prisoners, in a gesture aimed at calming protests that have rocked the country for weeks.

State TV last night said the amnesty covers all crimes committed before 31 May. It could affect 10,000 people who have been rounded up during the protests, according to activists.

It includes prisoners belonging to political parties, including the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, the report said.

The arrests are part of the government's crackdown on a two-month-old popular uprising demanding Mr Assad's resignation. He has offered gestures before, such as cancelling hated emergency laws in effect for decades, but the demonstrations have grown and spread throughout much of the country.

Protesters charge that in spite of the cancellation of the laws that gave security officers the power to arrest people without formal justification, thousands of people have been rounded up for protesting against Mr Assad's government. Human rights groups say more than 1,000 protesters have been killed in harsh crackdowns, including live fire and tank shelling.

Significant in yesterday's announcement was freeing members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Mr Assad's father and predecessor, Hafez Assad, killed at least 10,000 people to put down an uprising by the Brotherhood 30 years ago.

Membership in the Muslim Brotherhood is punishable by death in Syria, although this has not been enforced. In recent years, Mr Assad's government has released several Muslim Brotherhood members along with other militants and pro- democracy dissidents, as part of his efforts to present a more democratic face to the world.