In written testimony about the situation for Christians in Syria, human rights expert Nadine Maenza highlights Khalil’s detention “incommunicado and without charges.”
Yesterday, Nadine Maenza, a leading religious freedom expert, highlighted the case of Suleiman Khalil in testimony before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Addressing the situation for Christians in Syria after the fall of the Assad dictatorship, Maenza stated in her written testimony that, “Arbitrary detention and kidnapping have continued, including the case of Suleiman Khalil, who has been held by Syrian authorities for a year, incommunicado and without charges.”
Khalil, 52, was the mayor of the ancient Christian town of Sadad in Syria between 2012 and 2016. When ISIS attacked Sadad in 2015, Khalil organized the defense of the town, preventing a massacre of its Christian population.
On February 8, 2025, armed agents of the new Syrian government arrested Khalil at his home. He is currently behind held in Homs Central Prison. His family, who have been able to visit him only a handful of times, say that he is in poor health. There is reason to believe he has been tortured.
Christian Solidarity International has launched an international campaign for Suleiman’s release.
On Monday, In Defense of Christians and Christian Solidarity International issued a joint statement marking the one-year anniversary of Khalil’s detention, and calling for his immediate release.
“Suleiman Khalil’s case is a credibility test for the new Syrian government, and for the international community which has embraced it,” the groups wrote. “President Ahmed al-Sharaa and his officials have repeatedly promised that Christians will be safe in the new Syria. The persecution of a Christian politician whose only discernable offense is defending his town against an ISIS attack indicates otherwise.”
Maenza told the Committee that in Syria, “Christians also describe a steady pattern of intimidation and threats, including the vandalism of churches and Christian symbols—and, in some cases, targeted killings.”
Maenza is the former co-chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. She currently serves as co-chair of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable in Washington DC, and as Chair of the Institute for Global Engagement.
“In my meetings with Christians across Syria, their requests have mirrored what I hear from other religious communities: they want more than protection. They want equal citizenship,” Maenza told the Committee. “Any serious effort to stabilize Syria—and keep Christians in Syria—will require credible changes that move from promises to enforceable equal citizenship.”
In the same hearing, Ambassador James Jeffrey, the U.S.’s former special representative for Syria engagement, stated that the U.S. has been “working closely” with Ahmed al-Sharaa since 2016 – although al-Sharaa, the founder of Syria’s al Qaeda affiliate, was on the U.S.’s terrorism list until 2025.
“We worked with him…because they were so effective in fighting Assad and the Iranians, which was an important issue for us, and in fighting the Islamic State for us,” Jeffrey told the committee.
In October 2013, forces under Ahmed al-Sharaa’s command attacked Sadad and occupied the town for a week. The al Qaeda-linked fighters killed 41 Christian civilians.
At the time, al-Sharaa was better known by his nom de guerre, Abu Muhammad al-Jolani.
