Legislative decree 20 for the year 2013 could be one of the most awaited decrees by the Syrian people since the beginning of the crisis in the country; issued today by president Bashar Al Assad, the decree increasing the punishment for kidnapping crimes should help be a deterrent to criminals using kidnapping as a source for living or furthering a political agenda whatsoever.
‘Whomever kidnaps any person to achieve a political, or a financial benefit, or for revenge or on sectarian bases would be served with hard labor life term in prison’ the first article detailed.
The second article increases the punishment to the capital punishment (execution) in case someone is killed as a result of the kidnapping, the kidnap causes a permanent disability to the kidnapped, or in case the victim was sexually assaulted by the kidnapper/s.
However, the 4th article grants the kidnapper the ‘releasing excuse’ (amnesty) if he safely releases the kidnapped or hand the kidnapped over to any specialized authority within 15 days from today.
Syrians contacted by SyriaNews inside Syria and abroad were relieved with the new law but showed concern to the seriousness of the state to actually implement the punishments to help increase the security instead of the continuous amnesties the state keeps issuing causing further suffering as the criminals are taking advantage of the state’s leniency.
