President of the Syrian Coalition Anas Alabdah said that the Assad regime has freed prisoners on condition that they join its forces upon their release, citing reports from Adra Central Prison near Damascus.
“The Syrian National Coalition is deeply concerned by those reports and calls on the international community, particularly the U.N. Special Envoy and his team, to take a firm stance of the regime’s hideous manoeuvres and blackmail tactics it typically uses with regards to the issue of detainees,” Alabdah told Reuters on Friday.
“Preliminary reports indicate that between 100-150 prisoners have been released under this arrangement but taken directly to the front lines in Aleppo and Qamishli,” Alabdah added.
Alabdah pointed out that those released were not political prisoners but mostly criminal convicts, especially those jailed for drug crimes. (Source: Syrian Coalition + Reuters)
