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Syria on Sunday freed former horse rider Adnan Qassar, said to be a rival horse rider of one of President Bashar Assad’s late brothers, after spending 21 years in jail. Qassar’s release is part of an amnesty Assad decreed last week – around 1,500 people have so far been freed from Syrian prisons due to the amnesty, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
“In 1993, Adnan Qassar was one of the top horse riders in Syria and the Arab world. He won a horse race against Bassel Assad.Qassar was thrown in Saydnaya jail (near Damascus) for his ‘crime’”, said Rami Abdel Rahman, the Observatory’s Director. Bassel Assad was at the time being groomed to be President of Syria. A year after Qassar was imprisoned, Bassel Assad was killed in a traffic accident; “Qassar was dragged out of his cell to a public square, beaten and then thrown back in jail. It took them 21 years to release him. Qassar was not a political activist. But in Syria, no one is allowed to be better at anything than the Assads”, Rahman added.
Syrian opposition activist website Aks Alser also reported the release of Qassar, and said that he was accused of “possessing explosives, and of trying to assassinate Bassel Assad”. Qassar was then jailed “without trial”, the website added.
The amnesty decreed by Bashar Assad, which led to the release of Qassar, is unprecedented as it allows pardon and reduced sentences for people imprisoned under the controversial anti-terror law passed in 2012 – the Syrian government has imprisoned tens of thousands over political charges using the law.
According to Abdel Rahman, the regime has branded both unarmed and armed dissidents, and several journalists as “foreign-backed terrorists” to jail them under the law.
“Some of those released so far are prisoners of conscience, others were in jail over criminal charges”, he said.