Asser has been in hiding in Syria for almost a decade to avoid being arrested by the country’s notorious intelligence services and disappearing into a prison system infamous for torture and extrajudicial killings. He says he is wanted for protesting against President Bashar al-Assad’s government when the uprising first began in Syria in 2011 and people demanded political and economic rights. The agitation did not quite go his way as Syria was catapulted into chaos, turning into a long-drawn-out war between the Russia-backed regime and myriad opposition groups. In 2014, when his family, half of whom resided in the United Arab Emirates, applied for immigration to the United States, Asser was of two minds about leaving his cause and his country.