Christians worldwide call for release of Syrian Christian mayor
Religious freedom advocates around the world are calling for the release of Suleiman Khalil, the former mayor of a Christian town in Syria, who has been held without charge for more than a year.
Khalil, 52, was arrested at his home in Sadad town on Feb. 8, 2025. Christian Solidarity International said on its website that many view Khalil’s arrest as retaliation for defending Sadad against fighters linked to the new government of Ahmed al-Sharaa, who took power following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s rule in January 2025.
The group said Syrian Christians have faced increased attacks, arrests, extortion and abductions in the 20 months since al-Sharaa took power, and it is collecting signatures online for his release.
CSI is running a campaign for Khalil’s release and has a link to its website where supporters can send a message to Syria’s foreign minister on his behalf.
A coalition of advocates sent an open letter, dated June 29, asking the U.S. State Department to press for his immediate release, according to Decision magazine.
The letter was addressed to Thomas Barrack, who serves as Washington’s ambassador to Turkey and its special envoy for Syria and Iraq. Signers include former U.S. Senator Sam Brownback, who later served as the U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, along with CSI President John Eibner and In Defense of Christians Executive Director Richard Ghazal, among others.
International Christian Concern reported that the letter was co-signed by the International Religious Freedom Summit, the Institute for Global Engagement, the Shai Fund, the American Syriac Union, and the Alawite Association of the United States.
Khalil served as mayor of Sadad from 2012 to 2016. Jihadist groups attacked the town twice during his tenure, first in October 2013, when a force led by the al-Qaida-linked group Jabhat al-Nusra occupied the town for a week and killed 41 Christian civilians, according to SyriacPress. Jabhat al-Nusra was founded by Ahmed al-Sharaa, now Syria's president, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Khalil organized the defense of Sadad against an al-Qaida assault in 2013 and an Islamic State (ISIS) attack in 2015, preventing the killing and kidnapping of residents that took place in the nearby Christian town of al-Qaryatayn.
Around 10 years later, he was arrested under the government of Al-Sharaa, a former al-Qaida fighter, and spent time in the Abu Ghraib prison during the Iraq War.
His family has stressed that he belongs to the Syrian Social Nationalist Party and did not personally take part in combat operations during the defense, according to The Jerusalem Post. The Assad government removed Khalil from his position as mayor in 2016, reportedly fearing his growing popularity after the successful defense of the town.
In Defense of Christians said in a Feb. 9 statement, co-signed by CSI, that Khalil has had no lawyer and has not seen any evidence against him. It said his detention breaches Article 18 of Syria’s constitutional declaration, adopted March 13, 2025, which states that no one can be arrested or detained “except by judicial order,” aside from cases where a crime is caught in the act.
The group said Khalil's health has worsened in Homs Central Prison's military section, and that he may have been tortured, based on accounts reaching his family. It said his family has been barred from bringing him a Bible and a cross necklace. On the rare occasions his family has been allowed to visit, his female relatives have reportedly been required to wear a hijab and abaya, according to The Jerusalem Post. His own townspeople regard him as a hero for the 2015 defense.
Khalil has received medication in prison only sporadically and it is often expired, and he was made to fast during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.
His case has also been raised before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, according to Christian Solidarity International.
The June letter said Syrians, especially a government that has joined the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, should celebrate Khalil’s defense of his town, but it appears to be punishing him instead. The advocates said his detention sends other Christians in Syria a message that they have no future there.
Ghazal called the case “a test of whether Syria’s new government intends to protect those who defended their communities against the Islamist terror group, and whether Christians can have confidence in their future in Syria.”
President Donald Trump has taken a diplomatic approach toward the al-Sharaa government, seen as intended to help Syria recover economically and reduce tensions in the Middle East. On July 8, Trump said he had begun removing Syria from the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism, a designation it has carried since 1979.
