Syria frees activist Hassan Akkad days after he was detained | News

His launch comes after journalist Mousa al-Omar dropped a grievance over on-line criticism.

British Syrian activist Hassan Akkad has been launched from a jail in Damascus after 4 days detention for alleged criticism of public figures.

Akkad was taken into custody from a restaurant within the al-Maliki neighbourhood of Damascus on Wednesday at about 9:45pm native time (18:45 GMT), an announcement by his organisation said on Friday.

Akkad is the founding father of the “Give Us the Cash That You Owe!” marketing campaign, which tracks giant monetary commitments made by public figures throughout a donation drive to fund Syria’s reconstruction.

His detention adopted a authorized grievance filed by Syrian journalist and presenter Mousa al-Omar in relation to “Hassan’s social media actions and public feedback” after Akkad criticised al-Omar for allegedly failing to ship on his monetary pledges through the donations marketing campaign.

Public Prosecutor Decide Hossam Khattab confirmed final week that Akkad had been detained resulting from warrants issued towards him for failing to current himself to the Cybercrime Management Division in relation to al-Omar’s grievance. Khattab additionally mentioned different plaintiffs had filed circumstances towards Akkad for slander and defamation.

The activist’s launch on Sunday got here after al-Omar advised Al Jazeera that he had instructed his lawyer to withdraw the grievance towards Akkad, and mentioned that all the pieces pledged to the marketing campaign had been paid.

On Sunday, al-Omar once more posted on X that he had withdrawn the grievance towards Akkad.

“My authorized consultant dropped the fitting and the lawsuit towards my brother Hassan this morning and pardoned him for the sake of Almighty God … I used to be saddened by what he introduced upon himself, and I want him success in his social media actions and I’ll at all times be a supporter of him,” he wrote in Arabic.

Akkad, who can also be a filmmaker, was imprisoned twice by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime for documenting anti-government protests in 2011.

After fleeing Syria, he stayed within the Center East earlier than making an 87-day journey throughout Europe to achieve the UK in September 2015.

Video of his gruelling journey was included within the documentary collection, Exodus: Our Journey to Europe, which went on to win a British Academy of Movie and Tv Arts (BAFTA) Award.