Syrian knight Adnan Qassar never expected that his service to his country and helping the equestrian team win championships would cost him 21 years of his life in one of Syria’s dirtiest prisons.
Adnan Qassar, former captain of the Syrian equestrian team, was born into a Damascene family that had long been passionate about horse breeding. His family is credited with establishing Al-Dimas, the only equestrian club in Damascus. Qassar won numerous equestrian championships during his career, most notably the Balkan Games in 1991, and, alongside other Syrian knights, secured the gold medal in the Mediterranean Games held in France in 1993.
Bassel Assad, the eldest son of Hafez Assad, used to train in the same club that Qassar and his brothers had founded. In reality, Bassel possessed little knowledge about handling horses and lacked many equestrian skills. Despite this, Bassel insisted on imposing his views on the club, dictating instructions about everything related to horses including the type of horses to be bought, thus marking the beginning of the dispute between him and Qassar which was to have dire consequences for the more experienced horseman.
As has happened during countless arbitrary arrests in Syria, Qassar was falsely accused of possessing explosives in his bag and attempting to assassinate Bassel Assad.
The conflict between Captain Adnan Qassar and Bassel Assad reached its peak during the 1993 Mediterranean Games held in Languedoc-Roussillon, France. Bassel was accustomed to being awarded the top prize during every competition in Syria, whether he earned it or not, simply because he was the president’s son. But the competition was especially fierce among the participating equestrian teams in France and the one that gathered the most points through its riders would win the gold. That day, Bassel made numerous mistakes and knocked down several obstacles causing the team to lose many points. Qassar, however, entered after Bassel and completed the round without any mistakes, thereby raising the team’s score and securing their win in the end.
Unaccustomed to anyone receiving higher praise than himself, Bassel must have spent months plotting his revenge against the team’s captain who had publicly bested him. About a year after the incident, Qassar was outside the arena in Damascus waiting with his gear bag to start his training after Bassel was finished. Shortly after Qassar entered the arena, a large number of security personnel stormed in, ordered him off his horse, and arrested him. As has happened during countless arbitrary arrests in Syria, Qassar was falsely accused of possessing explosives in his bag and attempting to assassinate Bassel Assad.
Qassar was not granted a trial nor was he allowed to have a lawyer to defend him. He was transferred to Tadmur Prison without any idea of how many years he would be required to spend there.
After his arrest, Qassar was transferred to the military security branch in Damascus and then to Tadmur Military Prison. The notorious Tadmur Prison is located in the desert of Palmyra and is one of Syria’s dirtiest prisons in terms of officer treatment. This prison is specially designated for military and political detainees. Qassar was not granted a trial nor was he allowed to have a lawyer to defend him. He was transferred to Tadmur Prison without any idea of how many years he would be required to spend there.
Upon his arrival at Tadmur Prison, Qassar received a message from Bassel Assad: “If we had not shared bread and salt, I would have ordered your execution in Al-Abbasiyyin Square. But instead, I will ‘pardon’ your execution and settle for imprisoning you.”
In 1994, several months after his detention, Qassar was surprised to be shackled and thrown into the Tadmur Prison yard in front of the other inmates where the guards beat him for more than six continuous hours. This caused multiple fractures in his body, including a broken lower jaw, before they put him in solitary confinement and then transferred him to the wing of Muslim Brotherhood prisoners, the most brutally treated place in Tadmur Prison.
One inmate mentioned that Qassar was steadfast with noble ethics and enjoyed drawing horses with charcoal or carving them on the soap bars distributed to prisoners.
The same torture scene was repeated on the same day every year. It took the Syrian knight five years to learn from a new inmate that his mysterious annual torture coincided with the anniversary of Bassel Assad’s death in a car accident.
In 2000, 35-year-old Bashar Assad inherited the presidency after his father’s death and Qassar was transferred from Tadmur Military Prison to Saydnaya Military Prison north of Damascus. At that time Qassar’s family managed to visit him for the first time and along with many others, submit a request for his release to the new young president. Bashar Assad’s response was cruel and heartless: “I never entered Adnan’s prison, Bassel did. If you want Adnan out, go and resurrect Bassel to do it” referring to his brother who had died six years earlier. He also confirmed that the knight Adnan Qassar was just a deposit in his brother’s name that no one could interfere with, and that his fate was to be forgotten in prison.
On June 15, 2014, after 21 years of detention, Adnan Qassar was finally released under a presidential pardon. He found his father had passed away, his mother was ill, his siblings had scattered to escape regime persecution
Having studied English literature in Britain, Qassar took it upon himself to teach English to his fellow inmates in both Tadmur and Saydnaya prisons. One inmate mentioned that Qassar was steadfast with noble ethics and enjoyed drawing horses with charcoal or carving them on the soap bars distributed to prisoners.
Following the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2011, many activists repeatedly raised his case. Arab League observers tried to visit him during their mission to Syria but, true to its nature, the regime deceived the committee by transferring him from prison to prison to prevent them from seeing him. By this time no Syrian, Arab, or international sports officials dared to demand his release, nor did the Syrian, Arab, or even international media address the case of an athlete unjustly imprisoned without cause.
On June 15, 2014, after 21 years of detention, Adnan Qassar was finally released under a presidential pardon. He found his father had passed away, his mother was ill, his siblings had scattered to escape regime persecution, and his children, Tawfeeq and Maria, had grown into adults without experiencing their father’s presence.
The day after Qassar’s release, Omar Al-Abdullah, another regime detainee who had spent time with him in prison, wrote a tribute to him describing “Abu Tawfeeq’s simplicity and humility” and how “he exuded the nobility and dignity of a true knight” despite the injustices he was subjected to. “He extended his deep true empathy and love to everyone without sharing his own story, mindful not to add more burdens to the already heavy loads carried by fellow prisoners,” said Al-Abdullah when writing The Golden Knight I Know: Adnan Qassar which was shared on the website of the Association of Detainees and Missing Persons of Sednaya Prison.
