Release of limited number of detainees disappointment for Syrian families

DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – On Sunday, residents of the city of Duma, in the Damascus countryside, expressed their disappointment at the failure to release their relatives after the promises they received during the presidential elections that took place on the twenty-sixth of last month.

On Saturday, the Damascus government released a number of detainees according to a presidential pardon that was issued early on May, without mentioning the number of those released.

Activists circulated pictures of hundreds of residents gathering in Duma Square waiting for their released relatives in the presence of the head of the Military Intelligence Branch in the Syrian government, the Governor of Rif Dimashq, Ba’ath Party officials and members of Parliament.

Fahed al-Masri (a pseudonym), a resident of Duma, said, “The regime had promised the people, through one of Duma’s sheikhs, to release a large number of detainees during President Assad’s election campaign.”

He added that the number of those released does not exceed twenty, most of them were arrested recently, and they are not among the detainees of Duma during the period of the popular movement and the military conflict.

And Muhammad al-Mohammed (a pseudonym), a civilian activist in Duma, considered that the release of the detainees, will constitute the first step towards the entry of the Syrian army into Duma, which is considered a reconciliation area where government security forces are not allowed to be present.

“What happened is considered a humiliation for the residents of Duma, who waited in vain for their relatives without the possibility of knowing that they were alive,” he said.

Reporting by Aram Abdullah