Syria frees detained Kurdish pastor two weeks after detention

BEIRUT — Syrian authorities have freed a Kurdish pastor more than two weeks after he was detained while visiting family in the northern Syrian of city of Afrin, a church official said on Tuesday.Nihad Hassan, a Kurdish Christian leader originally from Syria, served the Evangelical Church in Beirut for many years, ministering to Kurdish Christians, including converts and displaced Syrian Kurds.“Pastor Nihad Hassan was released yesterday evening,” the official from a Kurdish church in Lebanon said, requesting anonymity.Hassan “will return to Lebanon,” where he usually lives, “because staying in Syria is dangerous for him and his family,” the official added.Last week, the Kurdish Church in Lebanon had said on its Facebook page that Syrian authorities had arrested Hassan “in connection with certain social media posts attributed to him.”A local Syrian official had told AFP that Hassan was detained in Afrin, a historically Kurdish-majority region in northwest Syria, over allegations of “inciting religious hatred” on social media.At least one post on what had appeared to be Hassan’s Facebook account seemed to be directed against Muslims.According to the church statement, Hassan is originally from the Afrin region and turned to Christianity in 2008.Coming from a non-Christian background, Hassan shared in a 2024 interview how he embraced Christianity while a political prisoner in Syria.Following his release from prison, Nihad moved to Lebanon, where he studied theology before becoming a pastor.A church official had previously told AFP that Hassan was arrested on July 19, and had made frequent visits to northern Syria where he had intended to re-establish himself.