No pardons for prison torturers, says Syrian rebel leader

Abu Mohammed al-Jolani says HTS group will ask countries to hand over Assad regime officials who flee

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The Islamist rebel commander responsible for the downfall of the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has said that those responsible for torture and killing in Syria's notorious prison system will not evade justice, after the opening of detention centres revealed the extent of the regime's crimes against its own people.

Pardons or amnesties would not be granted for implicated regime officials, Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, said in a statement published on the state broadcaster's Telegram channel. We will pursue them in Syria, and we ask countries to hand over those who fled so we can achieve justice," he said.