Syria’s longest-held detainee says joy over Assad’s fall surpassed release after 43 years

Syria’s longest-held detainee, Ragheed Ahmad al-Tatari, says his joy over the downfall of the Bashar al-Assad regime was far greater than his joy of being freed from prison after 43 years behind bars, Anadolu reports.

Tatari, 72, a former pilot, was held in several detention centers and prisons under the Assad regime, including Mezzeh Military Prison in Damascus, Tadmor in Homs countryside, Sednaya and Adra in Damascus countryside, Suwayda, and finally Tartous prison, from where he was released.

Speaking with Anadolu in an interview, Tatari recounted decades of suffering behind bars before his long ordeal ended with Assad’s fall on Dec. 8, 2024. “The main reason for my arrest in 1981 was incitement not to carry out military orders,” Tatari […]