diff --git a/src/libtracker-data/tracker-sparql-expression.vala b/src/libtracker-data/tracker-sparql-expression.vala
index d69b908..558c572 100644
--- a/src/libtracker-data/tracker-sparql-expression.vala
+++ b/src/libtracker-data/tracker-sparql-expression.vala
@@ -177,12 +177,6 @@ class Tracker.Sparql.Expression : Object {
 
 		if (accept (SparqlTokenType.AS)) {
 			if (accept (SparqlTokenType.PN_PREFIX)) {
-				// deprecated but supported for backward compatibility
-				// (...) AS foo
-				variable = context.get_variable (get_last_string ());
-			} else {
-				// syntax from SPARQL 1.1 Draft
-				// (...) AS ?foo
 				expect (SparqlTokenType.VAR);
 				variable = context.get_variable (get_last_string ().substring (1));
 			}
