Michel Kilo

Michel Kilo ميشيل كيلو
Born	1940 Latakia, Syria
Nationality	Syrian
Occupation	Writer
Known for	Democracy Activist Political Prisoner

Michel Kilo (Arabic: ميشيل كيلو‎, born 1940) is a Syrian Christian^[1] writer and human rights activist, who has been called "one of Syria's leading opposition thinkers."^[2]

Career

He was born in the Syrian Mediterranean coastal city and province of Latakia in 1940.

Michel Kilo studied journalism in Egypt and Germany. He has translated many political and economics books from German to English. As a columnist he wrote opinion pieces for two Arabic papers, the Lebanese daily Annahar and the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi. Recently he wrote several articles about the Syrian uprising for Assafir Lebanese daily newspaper^[3].

Troubles with the government

Kilo was first arrested by the government in the early 1980s,^[1] following this arrest he moved to France but came back to Syria in 1991. Following the Damascus Spring movement, Kilo was a central figure in the Damascus Declaration of 2005 and called for `peaceful, gradual," reform "founded on accord, and based on dialogue and recognition of the other.`^[2]

On May 12, 2006 the Beirut-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 "of weakening national sentiment and encouraging sectarian strife." On May 19, 2009 he was released after completing all of his sentence.^[4]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Syria's Kilo pledges to continue struggle
2. ^ ^{a b} Wright, Robin (2008), Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East, New York: Penguin Press, p. 232, ISBN 9781594201110 .
3. ^ Michel Kilo writes: You Syrians What Will You Do?, http://www.assafir.com/Article.aspx?EditionId=1936&ChannelId=45713&ArticleId=154&Author=%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%B4%D9%8A%D9%84 .
4. ^ "Dissident writer Michel Kilo freed in Syria", BBC News, 20 May 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8060073.stm .

External links

• Amnesty International
• No verbal zigzagging for this Syrian gadfly
• Michel Kilo Profile The Alliance for Essential Liberties in the Middle East's profile of Michel Kilo

Persondata
Name	Kilo, Michel
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1940
Place of birth	Latakia, Syria
Date of death
Place of death