President al-Assad pardons Mustafa Hamdoun

Mustafa Hamdoun, 71, returned to Damascus after being granted a special pardon from President Hafez al-Assad, the Lebanese daily al-Nahar reported on Tuesday, quoting well-informed sources. The paper said that Hamdoun is the first Syrian asylum seeker who returned to Syria from army officers among founders of a faction of the Baath Party that went to Iraq.

Mustafa Hamdoun was a Syrian army officer during the 1960's. He took part in the coup carried out by Adeeb al-Sheshakli against Hosni al-Zaeem. The sources stated that Hamdoun returned to Damascus last Friday on board a Jordanian plane. Hamdoun was part of the talks with late Egyptian President Jamal Abdul Nasser to establish Syrian - Egyptian unity.

He had close relations with President Nasser,who appointed him as minister of agriculture in the Syrian - Egyptian unity government. He left Damascus in 1966 for Lebanon and from there he went to his two comrades, Micheal Aflak and Salah al-Beitar, in Iraq.

Though he supported the Iraqi regime, then he differed with the Syrian opposition, especially with Akram al-Hourani and refused to participate in the so-called "the national coalition for salvaging Syria" which included the Syrian opposition parties abroad.

Hamdoun also refused Iraqi calls to form a provisional leadership for the Baath party abroad. He later moved to France and then came back to Jordan. The sources added that President al-Assad ordered repayment of all his salaries since he left Syria and for him to be provided together with his family with accommodations.