(11 Jul 2012) STORYLINE:
About 250 Syrian prisoners were released on Wednesday from the Damascus Police Command, in the presence of observers from the United Nations.
The prisoners were set free by an amnesty decree issued by President Bashar Assad.
One prisoner, who did not give his name, said he'd been treated "well" but added: "there has been beating and hitting, I won't lie to you, they did hit and beat us but that's all."
"I was arrested on the accusation of applauding when I went out of the mosque, this is my charge. And now I have been released by an amnesty decree by the President. Thank God, and I will never applaud again," the man added.
Only prisoners who had not been involved in the recent uprising against the regime were chosen for release.
Assad has agreed to a plan to quell the bloodshed in the most violent areas of Syria and then expand the operation to the whole country, according to the Arab League and United Nations' special envoy on the Syrian crisis, Kofi Annan.
Annan travelled to Iran and Iraq on Tuesday to build support for his peace efforts.
The conflict in Syria has defied every international attempt to bring peace, and there was no sign that the plan Annan described on Tuesday will be a breakthrough.
Although the Assad government's crackdown has turned the Syrian president into an international pariah, he still has the support of strong allies such as Russia, Iran and China.
Anti-regime activists say more than 17-thousand people have been killed since the start of the conflict in March 2011.
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