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Syrian authorities on Thursday jailed veteran dissident Louay Hussein, arrested a day before as he tried to visit his family abroad, his lawyer said.
The 54-year-old was detained at the Lebanese border, from where he planned to travel to Spain, his movement Building the Syrian State said on Wednesday. A judge later accused him of “weakening national sentiments” and spreading “lies”, the movement said.
A member of the opposition tolerated by the regime, Hussein issued a biting statement last week, saying that the Syrian regime is on the verge of collapsing and is calling for a coalition government.
On Thursday, Hussein’s lawyer Michel Shammas said that a Damascus judge had ordered Hussein’s jail sentence, and said that he was sent to Adra prison.
Hussien has for long been an opponent for the Assad family, which has ruled over Syria for the past 40 years.
Hussein, like the Assads, is from the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam. Under Hafez al-Assad’s rule, Hussein had spent seven years in prison. He was also detained in 2011 after expressing his support for demonstrators in Damascus who protested against a regime crackdown in the province of Daraa, the birthplace of the anti-Assad revolution.
On November 4th, in a widely publicized statement, Hussein said, “The Assad regime is falling apart and collapsing… The fact that Assad is still in his palace with thousands of troops and fighters guarding him doesn’t change anything”.
He also called for “a political solution” to the Syrian conflict, which has cost the lives of over 195,000 people since it broke out almost four years ago. He also called on the Syrian opposition and government to create a coalition government to replace the Assad regime. The Syrian civil war started as a peaceful movement urging for democratic change before devolving into a Sunni-led insurgency after Assad’s regime unleashed a violent crackdown on all dissenters.