Bashar al-Assad issues general amnesty excluding prisoners of conscience: Who benefits and why now? May 10, 2021 Bashar al-Assad meets with members of the Council of Ministers in Damascus after recovering from COVID-19, 30/3/2021 (The Presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic-Facebook) AMMAN — Ahead of Syrian presidential elections scheduled for May 26 (and May 2o for expatriates), Bashar al-Assad issued a legislative decree on May 2 granting a general amnesty for crimes committed before that date, which is the 18th general amnesty since the Syrian revolution broke out in the spring of 2011. After winning the previous 2014 presidential election, al-Assad issued a general amnesty, citing “social tolerance, national cohesion and the requirements of coexistence.” But the latest decree has been put forward just before the elections with the aim of “using it as a tool for propaganda to increase his popularity, as it is the last card in his deck,” Mustafa al-Qasem, a former judge who defected from the regime, said. “He is unable to take any real step of reform that would revive the country’s economy, improve Syrians’ standard of living and repair the state’s infrastructure. “