Religious Oppression in Syria: Priest Arrested, Archbishop Backtracks

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) calls on the two major Christian churches—the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and the Roman Catholic Church—as well as the Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid, Lars Castellucci, to take religious freedom in Syria seriously as a human right and to advocate for it. This appeal comes in the wake of the arrest of the Kurdish-Christian priest Nihad Hasan (46) in Afrin on July 20. The region has been occupied by Turkey since 2018. There are now reports that Nihad Hasan has been released after nearly three weeks in detention.

“The Kurdish-Christian priest has been living and working in Lebanon since the occupation of his homeland, Afrin. There, he ministers not only to Kurdish Christians but also to many other Syrians who were forced to flee their homeland,” reports STP Middle East Advisor Dr. Kamal Sido. The authorities in Afrin accuse Hassan of insulting Islam. According to information from the STP, however, he merely criticized the crimes committed by Syrian Islamists against Kurds and other minorities in Syria. In 2008, the Kurd renounced Islam and converted to Christianity.

“We suspect that his conversion to Christianity is the real reason for his arrest. According to the Islamists, no one is allowed to leave Islam. Nihad Hassen was fortunate to find understanding within Syria’s Kurdish community and to be able to leave Islam without being killed. Many Kurds in Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran want to turn their backs on Islam, since crimes against Kurds and other communities are committed daily in its name,” explains Sido.

When the Kurds took over administration in Afrin and other Kurdish regions of northern Syria in 2013, they guaranteed complete freedom of religion—including for Muslims who wished to convert. Since 2011, a large Kurdish-Christian community of about 2,000 people had formed in Afrin. They were allowed to publicly celebrate holidays such as Christmas and hold their religious services. These freedoms were a thorn in the side of the Turkish state and the Islamist militias it controlled.

These militias have since seized power in Damascus. “The Islamist regime that has ruled Syria since late 2024 also appears to be pressuring other Christian clergy not to speak critically to foreign media about the situation of Christians and other minorities. In July, Archbishop Jacques Mourad traveled to Europe from the central Syrian city of Homs. In interviews with Christian media outlets in Austria, Switzerland, and Germany, he spoke very critically about the situation of Christians and minorities. The Syrian Christian warned of a further deterioration of the situation in the country. He said, verbatim: “If this continues, Christianity will die out in this region” (Domradio, July 22, 2026). “After his return to Syria, the archbishop had to partially backtrack on his statements in a published video. We suspect that he was pressured by the new Islamist rulers in Damascus and other quarters,” reports Sido.

Both cases show that the new Islamist rulers in Syria are playing for time: “If they were more firmly in power, they would push even more aggressively for the Islamization of the country and the oppression of Christians and other religious communities. This strategy was also employed by the mullahs’ regime in Iran in 1979. First, they consolidated their power, and then brutally persecuted primarily converted Christians, but also Baha’is in Iran. To this day, the mullahs refuse to relinquish power in Iran. A comparable situation could repeat itself in Syria,” Sido continued.

Christian churches and democratic parties in Germany, Europe, and around the world must therefore closely monitor the situation of Christians and other minorities in Syria. Any cooperation with the new rulers in Syria must be contingent upon the regime guaranteeing and upholding full freedom of religion, including the right to leave Islam.

As Archbishop Mourad explained in his interviews, the civil war and the Islamists’ seizure of power have had devastating effects on the situation of Christians in Syria. Of the two million Christian believers who once lived there, only 300,000 to 350,000 are said to remain in the country today.

This press release was translated from German to English using AI. If you come across errors or ambiguities, please contact us at 65]G378o6DD6CA.