Souhail Hamwi, a freed Lebanese prisoner, has given his first testimony upon his return to his hometown of Chekka, in the Batroun district of northern Lebanon, having spent about 33 years in Syrian prisons, Al Jazeera reports.

Hamwi says in a video, verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency, that he did not know the reason for his arrest from his home, until 20 years after his imprisonment in 1992, noting that he appeared before illegal field courts where the presentation time did not exceed three seconds.

“There is nothing more precious than freedom in the entire universe. It is the spirit of any one of us, and I hope you preserve it,” he said.