Ragheed al-Tatari was released from Bashar al-Assad’s prison after victorious Syrian rebels stormed the capital, Damascus, and overthrew Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year-old oppressive regime.
Described as one of the world’s longest-serving political prisoners, Ragheed al-Tatari’s release marks a significant moment in the Syrian struggle. Rebel fighters have freed hundreds of people from the Syrian regime’s notorious prisons, many of whom had been held incommunicado for years.
Al-Tatari, a Syrian air force pilot, was imprisoned in 1981 after one of his comrades escaped to Jordan in a fighter jet. Al-Tatari was accused of helping them escape. He spent two years in solitary confinement at al-Meiza prison before being transferred to the notorious Tadmur (Palmyra) prison, where he remained until 2000.
Subsequently, he was moved to the Saydnaya prison, another infamous facility, before being transferred to Damascus’s Adra Central Prison in 2011. The military court that sentenced Al-Tatari to life imprisonment took only a minute to rule on his case.
During his years in prison, Al-Tatari developed extraordinary artistic and sculptural talents, creating intricate pieces from bread crumbs, sugar, citric acid, and olive seeds. He also organized chess tournaments, crafting the pieces from bread dough and drawing the boards on cloth.
Al-Tatari’s son, now in his forties, recalled growing up without his father, saying, “Every time I saw a stranger walking alone, I thought, ‘Maybe this is my father.”
Contrary to the government’s narrative, it is believed that the real reason for Al-Tatari’s arrest was his refusal to bomb the Syrian city of Hama during the reign of Bashar al-Assad’s tyrannical father, Hafez al-Assad. He also reportedly refused to report on his comrades. Another reason for his imprisonment is said to be that he beat Basil al-Assad, the eldest son of then-President Hafez al-Assad, in a horse race.
