r/syriancivilwar • u/AlbertTrosk • 3d ago

Three US Congressmen send letter calling for release of Suleiman Khalil, detained for 19 months without charges

https://syriacpress.com/blog/2026/10/14/three-us-congressmen-call-for-release-of-former-sadad-mayor-suleiman-khalil-in-letter-to-us-syria-envoy-barrack/

Three US Representatives sent a letter to US Syria Envoy Tom Barrack, calling on him to pressure the Syrian government into releasing Suleiman Khalil, the former mayor of Sadad, who has been detained since February 2025 without formal charges or access to a lawyer.

Happy to see this case gain at least a little traction.

10 Upvotes

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u/Interesting-Cat7307 3d ago

Why was he arrested 

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u/AlbertTrosk 3d ago

Mostly likely related to a misunderstanding around an interview he gave in 2023: https://syriacpress.com/blog/2025/03/06/syria-former-mayor-of-sadad-arrested-amid-controversy-over-misinterpreted-interview-in-2023/

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u/Otherwise_Appeal7765 3d ago

In all honesty and fairness this article seems to be heavily biased claiming that the new gov is ISIS

It says that suleiman khalil advocated to fight ISIS which is why he is currently arrested…

This is stupid, idk what the real reason he was arrested is, but i dont think its the misinterpretation or “because he fought against ISIS”, these two seems to be made up issues to garner foreign support and for headlines to be made

I dont know what the real reason is and hope the truth comes out quickly “either he was unfairly imprisoned or there is something real there”, but these two “reasons” are clearly made up for headlines

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u/SashoStamboliyski 3d ago edited 3d ago

Frankly, it could all be cleared up if the government would make a public statement or charge him with something. Instead, he's been detained for nearly two years. The silence from the government is suspect to me. If they had a legitimate reason to arrest him, they would have said something.

3

u/RealAbd121 Free Syrian Army 3d ago

The silence from the government is suspect to me.

No, it's the opposite of a conspiracy to me; this is the type of shit that happens in the third world because some random nobody officer did a power trip, and no one cared enough to look into it to undo it. There most likely really is just no real reason why he got rounded up, not even a bad one like religious motive the article is trying to insinuate

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u/Otherwise_Appeal7765 3d ago

Agreed… a literal multi-year arrest with no reason is absolutely horrible

I hope there is actually a good reason that just got drowned out by these articles, because otherwise this is absolutely horrible on all ends

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u/RealAbd121 Free Syrian Army 3d ago

All it boils down to, why the fuck are you imprisoning someone without anyone even knowing why, either they should clarified as real charges or reveal it as an error and a release and apology is in o

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u/Otherwise_Appeal7765 3d ago

True and correct 100%