A/HRC/18/53 Thus, 10,433 detainees are included in the amnesty decrees issued and were immediately released according to the list mentioned above. Consequently, this does not include detainees for violations and misdemeanors, or pending cases of crimes for which detainees might benefit from partial amnesty coverage at the moment of sentencing. They could get amnesty for half or quarter of the sentence. In addition, this does not include those evading justice unless they surrender within the periods specifies by the decrees. It should also be noted that crimes of treason, espionage, terrorism and rape are not included in this amnesty. Those two decrees are most comprehensive and extensive when compared to all previous decrees related to amnesty in the country. It is noteworthy that the general amnesty decree issued on 31 May 2011 has included all leaders and members of illegitimate political organizations and associations with the exception of terrorist organizations using means of terror to reach their objectives. The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic in its plan to include all parties of the Syrian society in a comprehensive national dialogue has included members of the Muslim Brotherhood Party in its general amnesty, despite the fact that the party in question had used, for decades, terror, murder and destruction as principal means – among others- to achieve its goals in the country. Detainees of the Communist Labor Party have received the same amnesty. Decisions to facilitate return to Syria for those who are included in this amnesty are issued and all procedures related to security clearances for Syrian citizens are lifted. 5. Following abolition of the State of Emergency Law, as it was mentioned previously, criminal court procedures under the Syrian judicial law remain the basis for arresting crime suspects. This includes detainees arrested for participating in riots, sabotage and terrorism in the so-called peaceful demonstrations currently taking place in Syria. When it comes to peaceful protestors, who are demonstrating according to the rules of the law, no arrests were conducted except for few cases where demonstrators have broken rules related to the legislative decree number (54) of 21 April 2011, regulating citizens’ peaceful demonstration rights, detainees are immediately released, while recidivists are released in five days of their arrest. When demonstrations are not peaceful, regulations provided by the Syrian penal code as mentioned in the legislative decree number (148) of the year 1949 will be applied by the judiciary instances on a case by case basis. Syria is often subject to activities of terrorist groups, who are equipped with the latest weapons and technologies. They propagate organized violence which is in opposition to international laws and Syrian laws alike and they are supported by unprecedented misleading mass media campaign. It is unreasonable for any sovereign state to be asked not to respond to insurgents’ terrorist attacks reaching its citizens, both military and civilians, and sabotaging public service buildings, or not to bring those criminals to justice. 6. Legal procedures adopted by law enforcement bodies in Syria following the abolition of the State of Emergency Law and applied to situations of arrests and detentions conform to legislations dictated by Syria’s criminal code. All security forces and police follow article 8 of the law in question which constitutes the basis for the work of the attorney general. The members of law enforcement bodies are charged, according to Article number 6 of the same law, with investigating, collecting evidence, arresting criminals and bringing them to court to be judged. We have no detainees unlawfully arrested with regards to peaceful demonstrations. If your question concerns individuals who have used weapons or terrorist acts against the state, it is an entirely different matter. Yet even for those who have committed terrorist acts, we are ready to cooperate. We need to receive specific names and information to be able to deliver documents concerning the persons in question. We cannot respond to claims which lack the basis of reasonable evidence. 7. Concerning Hamza Al-khateeb, we inform you that this person was participating in a terrorist attack on a residential suburb in the Dara’a province the moment he was killed. He 81