Syria has jailed a Christian – a former mayor who led the defense of an Islamic State assault on his town 11 years ago – without charges since February 2025, rights groups say.
The detaining of Suleiman Khalil, a Syriac Orthodox Christian who as mayor of Sadad led the defense of the town against the Islamic State in 2015, is one of various actions against Christians under the new government of Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former member of Al Qaeda.
Khalil, 52, imprisoned by the new Syrian government since Feb. 8, 2025, has not been charged with a crime, granted access to a lawyer or allowed regular visits from his family, according to an open letter to Ambassador Tom Barrack, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Syria and Iraq, by advocacy groups such as Christian Solidarity International and In Defense of Christians and others, including former international religious freedom Ambassador Sam Brownback.
The letter, sent in June, noted there are serious concerns about Khalil’s health and well-being.
“Mr. Khalil’s actions in defending his town against ISIS should be celebrated by all Syrians, especially the new government, which has officially joined the U.S.-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS,” the letter writers stated. “Instead, Syria’s government appears to be punishing him for it.”
Barrack has been a strong advocate for U.S. support for the new Syrian government, which came to power after the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad collapsed in December 2024, the rights groups noted.
“We respectfully ask you to intervene with the Syrian authorities to secure Mr. Khalil’s immediate release,” the letter writers stated. “By calling upon the Syrian government to immediately release Mr. Khalil – or, at a minimum, to provide him with access to legal counsel, necessary medical care, full and transparent notice of any charges against him, and the due process protections required by law – you would contribute powerfully to President Trump’s goal of protecting Christians in the Middle East, underline the United States’ and Syria’s shared commitment to fighting terrorism, and help ensure that the ‘new Syria’ will, indeed, be for all Syrians.”
The letter was signed by John Eibner for Christian Solidarity International (CSI), Richard Ghazal for In Defense of Christians, Brownback, Nadine Maenza of the Institute for Global Engagement, Charmaine Hedding of the Shai Fund, Robert Ozgun of the American Syriac Union, and Morhaf Ibrahim, president of the Alawite Association of the United States.
There has been no official response from Barrack to the letter, although his office immediately acknowledged receipt and affirmed U.S. commitment to the protection of Christians in Syria, CSI Director for Public Advocacy Joel Veldkamp told Christian Daily International.
CSI is campaigning for Khalil’s immediate release. Supporters can send a message on his behalf directly to the Syrian Foreign Ministry through the CSI website.
Pretexts for Arrests
Other Christians in Syria have been subject to arbitrary arrests, as well as kidnappings and killings.
Many Christians served in the National Defense Forces (NDF), a network of local militias set up by the former government of Bashar al-Assad to defend villages against rebel attacks, including jihadist offensives. One such Christian was Fadi Abdo al-Shaer of Kafrbo, Hama Province.
Al-Shaer was abducted along with his 7-year-old daughter on July 7, Veldkamp said. The child was released, but Al-Shaer’s body was discovered on July 9; he had been shot to death, Veldkamp said.
Some NDF members have been implicated in serious crimes, but there was no evidence that Fadi was, he added. No further details on the case were available, but Veldkamp said the kidnapping and killing have has been confirmed by multiple sources, including pro-government sources.
Christians in Syria believed to be wealthy are regularly arrested on flimsy pretexts and are released only after their families pay local officials large ransoms, according to CSI, citing sources within the country.
One source told CSI, “Christian business owners are getting targeted, where the government will say: ‘Oh, we had a complaint or we have evidence that you are doing forbidden or haram things,’ and they take the people with them to prison so their families pay money to get them back.”
This practice is especially frequent in Jaramana, a suburb of Damascus, Wadi al-Nasara (The Valley of the Christians) in Homs Governorate, and in Saydnaya, considered a Christian holy town north of Damascus, according to CSI.
“Multiple local sources have confirmed to CSI that in the Christian-majority town of Saydnaya, four men were arrested on June 13,” the group reported.
George Mansour, Rabee Moussa, Boutrous al-Sheikh and Shihab Yacoub were arrested in connection with their participation in the defense of Saydnaya when it came under rebel attack in January 2014, according to CSI.
“As of July 8, they were being held for questioning in the Ministry of Interior prison in al-Nabek,” the group stated.
Leaders in Saydnaya of the Greek Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox and Melkite Greek Catholic churches recently decided to cancel all public events related to religious holidays this year, limiting them to prayers inside the churches, advocacy group Coptic Solidarity reported this month, citing journalist Ashraf Helmy, who resides in Australia.
“This decision was made in protest against the continued detention of several residents of the town and other areas, the mistreatment of Christians, the incitement and threats they face on social media, and the increasing incidents of theft and kidnapping,” Coptic Solidarity stated. “Helmy called on Western countries and international human rights organizations to put pressure on the Syrian government to release the detained Christians, reveal the fate of the kidnapped and ensure their return, to judge those behind the blatant violations against Christians, impose economic sanctions on Syria if there won’t be respond to the Syrian churches demands, and apply social justice to everyone in accordance with the laws and constitutions of the United Nations.”
Syria was ranked No. 6 on Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List (WWL), a dramatic decline from its ranking the previous year at No. 18, largely due to a spike in violence.
“Syria is now at its most dangerous since so-called Islamic State occupied significant swathes of territory,” according to the WWL report. “Since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, Christians have waited to see what the impact on the faith community would be – and, despite some promising signs, the situation is now incredibly dangerous. The country has been mostly controlled by forces led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). This is an Islamist extremist group with roots in Al Qaeda.”
