Syrian man in Scotland celebrates as family freed from Assad's brutal prisons after 15 years

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A Syrian refugee who made Edinburgh his home has welcomed the fall of the Assad regime in his home country after his family are freed from brutal prisons.Dr Amer Masri moved to the capital in 2007 to study a PhD at Edinburgh University in sheep genetics before marrying his wife, Marwa, 39, in Scotland in 2008.

The 43-year-old stayed following the Arab Spring and applied for refuge while warring factions wreaked violent havoc across his country of birth, reports Edinburgh Live.He was joined by his wife and their two sons, Taym, 15 and Elias, 12, on Sunday, December 8, in celebrating Bashar al-Assad being overthrown.

Amar grew up in a draconian environment despite his family’s relatively high social status because of the torment caused by Assad's Alawaite minority regime.

He said: "I grew up in Damascus and attended Damascus University before coming to Edinburgh in 2007. Life economically was ok back home.“In terms of my family, my father was a professor and in a good social class in the community however Syria was under the rule of Assad the son.