Michel Kilo ميشيل كيلو | |
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| Born | 1940 Latakia, Syria |
| Died | 19 April 2021(2021-04-19) (aged 80–81) Paris, France |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Known for | Democracy activist, political prisoner |
Michel Kilo (Arabic:ميشيل كيلو; 1940 – 19 April 2021) was aSyrianChristian[1] writer andhuman rights activist, who has been called "one of Syria's leading opposition thinkers."[2][3]
Kilo was born to a Christian family in the SyrianMediterranean coastal city and province ofLatakia in 1940. His family were members of theSyrian Communist Party[4]
He studied journalism in Egypt and Germany. He has translated many political and economics books fromGerman toEnglish. As a columnist he wrote opinion pieces for twoArabic papers, the Lebanese dailyAnnahar and the London-basedAl-Quds Al-Arabi. In 2011 he wrote several articles about theSyrian uprising for theAs-Safir Lebanese daily newspaper.[5]
Kilo was first arrested by the government in the early 1980s,[1] following this arrest he moved toFrance but came back toSyria in 1991. Following theDamascus Spring movement, Kilo was a central figure in theDamascus Declaration of 2005 and called for "peaceful, gradual," reform "founded on accord, and based on dialogue and recognition of the other."[2]
On 12 May 2006, theBeirut-Damascus Declaration, calling for normalising Lebanese-Syrian relations after decades of domination by Syria of its smaller neighbour Lebanon, was published with Kilo as one of its signatories. He was arrested yet again and a year later was sentenced to three years in prison on charges of "weakening national sentiment and encouraging sectarian strife." On 19 May 2009, he was released after completing all of his sentence.[6]
In May 2013, Kilo declined to become a member of theSyrian National Coalition after his group was offered only 5 seats on the said coalition.
Michel Kilo toldMadar Daily in April 2016 that theKurdish Democratic Union Party’s project for federalism is a project to divide Syria. "We refuse it, even when the US support it and there is no historical proof for the existence of aKurdistan region in Syria. This isn’t a secondIsrael, they cannot snatch a Kurdistan from Syria, if they try to divide Syria, we will break their backs."[7] These remarks were across political camps in Syrian-Kurdish society rejected as both racist and denying the reality of theFederation of Northern Syria - Rojava.[7]
He died on 19 April 2021, at a hospital in Paris fromCOVID-19.[8]
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