WASHINGTON – This week, Natalie Khalil, the daughter of the imprisoned Syrian Christian mayor Suleiman Khalil, visited Washington to ask lawmakers to help free her father.
The advocacy visit was organised by Christian Solidarity International, in cooperation with In Defense of Christians.
Khalil, 22, brought a letter to DC for President Trump, asking him to help free her father. She also met with members of congress and the U.S. State Department, and spoke to numerous media outlets to tell her father’s story.
Supporters are invited to send their own message to President Trump for Suleiman Khalil from CSI’s website.
Suleiman Khalil, 52, served as the mayor of the Syriac Orthodox town of Sadad in Syria between 2012 and 2016. He was not a member of the Assad regime’s ruling Ba’ath party, and the regime removed him from office in 2016.
During Khalil’s tenure, Sadad was attacked twice by jihadists – in October 2013 by a combined force from ISIS and the al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, and in November 2015 by ISIS. Suleiman Khalil is regarded as a hero in his hometown for organizing the defense of Sadad and preventing a massacre of its Christian population.
On February 8, 2025, security forces from the new Syrian government arrested Khalil at his home in Sadad. Since then, he has been held without charge, without access to a lawyer, and with only irregular access to family visits. His family has been given no information about why he is being held, or when he might be brought to trial or released.
CSI’s advocacy director, Joel Veldkamp, commented, “Given that Syria’s new government is composed of men who began their career fighting for Jabhat al-Nusra, the question must be asked: is Suleiman Khalil being punished for successfully defending his town from Syria’s new rulers?”
The DC-based advocacy group In Defense of Christians (IDC) invited Natalie Khalil to speak at their Advocacy Day in Washington on September 15. (Her remarks were livestreamed, and are available to view online). Grassroots volunteers organized by IDC then spent the day visiting members of Congress to ask them to act for Suleiman Khalil.
IDC also arranged for Khalil to meet with key members of Congress, including Gus Bilirakis (R-Florida) and Ryan Mackenzie (R-Pennsylvania), as well as Thomas Rosenberger, the State Department’s director for Levant Affairs, and staff on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“The detention of Suleiman Khalil is not simply about an individual,” said Richard Ghazal, the president of In Defense of Christians. “This event is not unique; it’s happening all across Syria. But it sends a message to Christians that you are not welcome in Syria. You’re visitors, you are guests, and this is how you’ll be treated.”
Natalie Khalil also shared her father’s story in a number of press interviews. She was featured on the nightly news broadcast of EWTN, a major Catholic broadcaster in the United States, as well as in World Magazine, the Christian Post, the National Catholic Register, CBN News, Christian Daily International, and other outlets.
“Mr. President, you have championed the protection of persecuted Christians, and I am asking you to do this again for my father, my hero, Suleiman Khalil,” Natalie wrote to President Trump. “To the world he may be one man but to me, he is my father, my role model, and my hero.”
“This is a crucial moment for Syria’s two-thousand-year-old Christian community, more than three-quarters of whom have already left the country,” said Veldkamp. “Suleiman Khalil’s detention tells them that there is no place for them in the new Syria.”
“The U.S. has more leverage with the Syrian government today than at any point in the last seventy-five years,” Veldkamp added. “If the Trump administration does not want yet another Middle Eastern country to be emptied of Christians on its watch, it must make clear to the new Syrian government that protection for Christians is a priority for the United States. Asking the new Syrian government to free Suleiman Khalil would be an excellent place to start.”
About CSI
Christian Solidarity International (CSI) is an interconfessional Christian human rights group, campaigning for religious liberty and human dignity, and assisting victims of religious persecution, victimised children, and victims of catastrophe.
CSI is an NGO with consultative status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
Christian Solidarity International was founded in Switzerland in 1977 by Rev. Hans Stückelberger and is active in more than 20 countries with public advocacy initiatives and humanitarian aid projects.
Contact: Patrick Degenhardt | patrick.degenhardt@csi-int.org
