Samir Nashar is a Syrian politician. [1] [2] Nashar co-founded small opposition groups in 2005 [3] [4] and was a member of the Syrian National Council in the early 2010s. [2] [5] He was detained for two days in 2006. [1] [4]
Nashar was born in 1945or1946(age 79–80). [4] He graduated in commerce at the University of Aleppo in 1969. [6]
During his university studies in the late 1960s, Nashar joined the Arab Socialist Movement. He left the party after one of its splits into pro and anti Hafez al-Assad factions. [6]
After a speech by Bashar al-Assad in 2000 in favour of democracy, Nashar started coordinating political discussions. He signed the Damascus Declaration in 2005. [6] In 20005, Nashar was a co-founder of a small group called the Alliance of Free Nationalists. [3] He was the spokesman for the Syrian Free National Party, another small opposition group created in 2005. [4] He was also a member of the Committee for Reviving the Civil Society.[ citation needed ][ when? ] He was described by Newsweek in 2005 as "a dream democrat ... liberal, secular, rich–and brazenly outspoken". [3] In 2007, Nashar tried to form a movement of elites in Aleppo, called the Free Patriotic Movement. The group became inactive as a result of pressure from the security forces. [6]
Nashar was a member of the Syrian National Council during the early 2010s. [2] [5]
In November 2025, during the Syrian transitional government that followed the fall of the Assad regime, Nashar argued that federalization was the most realistic model for reorganising Syrian governing structures. [7]
In 2003, during the Presidency of Bashar al-Assad, Nashar was arrested along with other political activists. He was later released. [6] On 25 March 2006, Nashar was arrested by Syrian authorities in Aleppo by agents of the military secret service after he returned from a meeting of exiled opposition figures in Washington, D.C. [1] On 26 March the Syrian Human Rights Organisation called for his immediate release. [4] He was released from custody on 27 March. [1]