Christians arbitrarily detained in Syria denied bible access, forced to observe Ramadan

ByDANIELLE GREYMAN-KENNARDJULY 30, 2026 13:54Updated: JULY 30, 2026 13:55Christians and other minority groups have been arbitrarily detained by the Syrian Transitional Government for reasons that “sometimes appear to be motivated in part by the detainees’ ethnic or religious identity,” according to a newly published report by Christian Solidarity International that was presented to the UN, which alleged that detainees are often forced to adopt Islamic practices and denied access to items connected to their own faith.Acknowledging that Damascus has faced an “enormous challenge” ensuring there is accountability for the crimes committed under the Assad regime, CSI reported that the “settlement” system proposed to deal with the crisis had been used as a template to deal with the crisis.Under the system, members of the Assad regime’s security forces were allowed to present themselves to the authorities, hand over their weapons, and receive new ID cards, after the government had verified that they were not suspected of grave crimes against Syrians.Though the system had been a way to calm the transition, international reports and investigations noted that thousands of people said to be affiliated with the previous regime, or for exercising their political rights or for extortion exchanges, have been detained without a trial.Suleiman Khalil, who served as mayor of Sadad from 2012 until 2016, is an example of one such detainee. He was detained on 8 February 2025 and remains in detention without charge, without access to a lawyer, without the right to receive visits or communications from his family, and without information about the evidence against him, CSI noted.A photograph shows the Maronite Cathedral of Saint Elijah (Mar Elias) in Aleppo on July 17, 2026. (credit: LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images)Christian town came under attack by group founded by Syrian President SharaaHis family has stressed that he is a member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, and did not take part in combat operations, though his Christian-majority town came under attack both by the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, an Islamist group founded by Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa. The attack by Nusra saw the town occupied for a week and 41 civilians murdered.“This history raises the question of whether Mr. Khalil is being punished for protecting his town from attack by forces which now control the Syrian government,” the report noted.Held in Homs Central Prison, where he has reportedly been denied medical treatment for his herniated disc and problems with his ears, Khalil was said to have been denied his right to practice his faith as a Syriac Orthodox Christian, and there are reports that he has been subjected to torture.On the rare occasions his family has been allowed to visit, Khalil’s female relatives reported that they were forced to wear the hijab and abaya, and were not allowed to bring him a cross or a bible. Additionally, it was said he was forced to fast during Ramadan.Damascus has so far confirmed that it is detaining 3,500 members of the former regime’s military forces.CSI noted that there were widespread reports of Christians in Saydnaya, Jaramana, and the region of Wadi al-Nasara being imprisoned by local officials seeking to extort their families. In addition, there is an ongoing crisis surrounding the abduction of women and girls from minority communities.Kurdish journalist Hassan Zaza, for example, was arrested by security forces on 27 June 2025 and held incommunicado for nearly a week before his release on July 3, and Alawite journalist Noor Suleiman was detained without charge by the political security branch in Mezze, Damascus, on 26 July 2025 after she criticized sectarian attacks on Druze and Alawites. After a public outcry, she was released three days later, reportedly on bail.Additionally, CSI reported on the case of Milad al-Farkh, a Christian merchant from the village of Kfara in Homs governorate, who was arrested on 24 August 2025 and died in custody. His family alleged that they were pressured to pay $10,000 for his release and that his body showed marks of violence. A relative who asked for an autopsy was also later arrested.Alawites arrested, threatened for protesting abduction, forced conversionMembers of the Alawite community have also been arrested or threatened with arrest for protesting the ongoing abduction of Batoul Suleiman Alloush, a young medical student who was taken from her university. Authorities have maintained that she left voluntarily and converted to Sunni Islam of her own accord.However, a source close to the family previously told The Jerusalem Post that Alloush was abducted and drugged, and that she would never have voluntarily left to join the same group that killed her best friend and her cousin’s family in a sectarian attack.The Institute for the Documentation of Human Rights Violations Against Religious Minorities in the Levant has documented 131 cases of missing women since January 2025, 112 of whom are Alawite girls and women between the ages of 12 and 45.Despite at least 50 of these cases being confirmed as abductions, the transitional government has largely denied the crisis, and in at least twelve of the cases, there is verified evidence of direct involvement or tacit complicity by the General Security forces, the report noted.These detentions violate Syria’s own constitution, CSI stressed, referencing Article 18, which asserts that, “with the exception of the case of a crime committed in plain sight, no person may be arrested, detained, or have his freedom restricted, except by judicial order.”Such detentions also violate Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which protects individuals from arbitrary arrest or detention, and Articles 10 and 11, which protect the individual’s right to a fair and public trial and the right to counsel.Follow us on Google