Riad Hammoud Darar | |
Native Name: | رياض حمود دارار |
Native Name Lang: | ar |
Office: | Co-leader of the Syrian Democratic Council |
Term Start: | 25 February 2017 |
Alongside: | Amina Omar |
Predecessor: | Haytham Manna |
Office2: | Founding member of the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change |
Term Start2: | June 2011 |
Term End2: | August 2014 |
Nationality: | Syrian |
Birth Place: | Deir ez-Zor, Second Syrian Republic |
Alma Mater: | Bachelor's degree on Arabic language in Damascus University[1] |
Riad Hammoud Darar (Arabic: رياض حمود دارار, born 1954) is a Syrian opposition political and social activist and author from Deir ez-Zor. He was a proponent of human rights for Kurds in Syria since 2000. During his activism, he was imprisoned by the Syrian government for 5 years and was released in 2010.[2] On 25 February 2017, he was elected as the co-leader of the Syrian Democratic Council.[1]
Riad Darar was born in Deir ez-Zor in 1954. He received a bachelor's degree on Arabic language some time later, and became a preacher and an imam at a mosque in Deir ez-Zor.[1]
Since 2000, Riad Darar became a political activist and began to work with various non-governmental organizations.[1] After an uprising by Kurds in Syria in 2004, Mashouq al-Khaznawi, a Kurdish Sufi religious leader, was arrested and assassinated by the Syrian military intelligence in May 2005. Riad Darar was among those who were present at al-Khaznawi's funeral, and gave a speech. The next month, Darar was arrested.[2] On 2 April 2006, he was sentenced to 5 years in prison by the Supreme State Security Court.[3]
On 10 June 2010, Riad Darar was released from prison.[3] In June 2011, during the early phase of the Syrian uprising, he became a founding member of the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change, a Syrian opposition bloc.[1] Riad Darar became one of the major figures in the Syrian opposition.[4] In August 2014, he resigned from the NCC due to the lack of unity.[5]
On 25 February 2017, during the second conference of the Syrian Democratic Council in al-Malikiyah, Riad Darar was elected as the co-leader of the SDC, replacing Haytham Manna, another former NCC member who resigned from the SDC. Riad Darar then announced his support for federalism and democracy in Syria,[1] including in Deir ez-Zor.[5]