ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Wednesday issued his first amnesty decree since taking power, reducing life sentences and lifting penalties for drug, currency and smuggling offenses.

Syrian Justice Minister Mazhar al-Wais on Wednesday instructed public prosecutors to begin implementing the president’s decree, which covers several categories of felonies and individuals qualifying due to age or health conditions.

However, the decree excludes perpetrators of violations committed against Syrians unless the injured party waives their personal right, a measure the justice ministry claims safeguards victims’ rights and ensures the pursuit of justice. 

The decision marks the first amnesty issued by Sharaa since he assumed power in December 2024, following the fall of the former Baathist regime led by Bashar al-Assad, who had issued similar decrees in the past.

The general amnesty reduces life-imprisonment sentences to 20 years, and grants full exemption from life and temporary sentences for individuals meeting certain age and health criteria, including those suffering from terminal and incurable illnesses and those aged 70 and above.

The decree also provides full exemption from penalties for felonies under anti-narcotics, currency control, and state-subsidy smuggling laws, as well as minor offenses.

Additionally, it extends to individuals who committed abduction, provided the kidnapper voluntarily releases the abducted person without compensations or causing permanent injury.

According to a justice ministry statement, the decree aims to “grant a new opportunity to a category of convicts in cases that fall within ordinary crimes or those predominantly reformative in nature, contributing to their reintegration into society as law-abiding individuals, while also alleviating overcrowding in correctional facilities.”