The Syrian authorities have released since Sunday more than 60 detainees from their prisons as part of a new general presidential pardon considered the most comprehensive regarding "terrorism" crimes since the start of the conflict in the country, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had previously issued several pardon decrees since the beginning of the conflict, which included many exceptions, the last of which was in May, weeks before his re-election as president for the fourth time.

However, the new decree issued on Saturday, two days before Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr, is considered by human rights activists to be the most comprehensive regarding "terrorism" crimes as it does not include exceptions as is usually the case.

The new decree stipulates "granting a general pardon for terrorist crimes committed by Syrians" before April 30, 2022, "except those that resulted in a person's death and those specified in the Anti-Terrorism Law.”

The Observatory reported on Monday that "more than 60 detainees have been released since Sunday until now from various Syrian regions, some of whom have spent at least ten years" in Syrian prisons.

According to the new decree, "tens of thousands of detainees" are supposed to be released, many of whom are accused of crimes related to "terrorism," which the director of the Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, described as "a broad title used to randomly convict detainees."

According to a list circulated by human rights activists on social media including 20 names, among those released are detainees who spent years in the notorious Sednaya Prison, which Amnesty International described as a "human slaughterhouse" after documenting the hanging execution of about 13,000 people there between 2011 and 2015.

Lawyer Nora Ghazi, director of "No Photo Zone," an organization concerned with providing legal assistance to detainees, missing persons, and their families, considered it "the largest pardon issued since the beginning of the Syrian revolution as it includes all crimes related to terrorism except those that did not cause death."

She added, "It is expected that many people will be released, but the matter will take a lot of time."

Human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, accuse the Syrian regime of exploiting anti-terrorism laws "to convict peaceful activists."

The official Syrian news agency (SANA) quoted Deputy Minister of Justice Judge Nizar Sadqani as saying that the decree "was specific to crimes defined by their subject matter, which are terrorist crimes... and included various crimes such as working with terrorist groups or financing, training terrorism, manufacturing terrorist means, or breaching security."