News coming from Aleppo said that a patrol of Air Force Intelligence arrested Engineer Khalil Sulaiman son of Mustafa while he was at work in the Agriculture Department at Tal Al-Dhaman, in the area of Jabal Sam’an in the Northern Province of Aleppo. The arrest occurred before noon of Saturday 30th August 2003. 

It was said that the Syrian Kurdish citizen was moved to the Air Force Intelligence headquarters in Damascus, where he is still being held. 

Mr. Khalil Sulaiman was born in Sheikh Al-Hadid village (1958), married and has four children. He is graduated in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Aleppo in 1983. 

Mr. Khalil Sulaiman enjoys good reputation and popularity in the area. He joined the elections of the People’s Assembly in 1994, following which he was targeted by the authorities and was a subject to transfer and harassment. 

The Syrian Human Rights Committee condemns this unreasonable arrest and requests the Syrian president and government to immediately release Mr. Khalil Sulaiman, to inhibit all Intelligence Apparatus from arresting civilians, and to prevent any arrest without official warrant issued according to the civil courts instructions only when having a materialistic and clear offense to justify such arrest.