Press release
Syrian Coalition
Department of Media and Communications
April 16, 2019
The Syrian Coalition mourns the veteran Syrian dissident and professor Abdul Karim al-Dahak who passed away in the town of Salamiyah, Hama province yesterday evening (15 April) of a heart attack.
Al-Dahak has long adopted a national line that rejected totalitarian rule and believed in pluralism, democracy and equality. He was an outspoken critic of the regime’s tyranny and nepotism, standing up to it with utmost sincerity and valor and turning the cultural center he was in charge of into an platform of dialogue, discussion and political dissent.
Al-Dahak was not spared the tyranny of the Assad regime as he was detained in the early 1980s and spent a decade and a half in the tyrant’s prisons. However, imprisonment only increased his insistence on change and the need to achieve a transition to a pluralistic, democratic system of rule that guarantees human rights and dignity.
Al-Dahak left a distinctive hallmark in the Damascus Spring movement and all types of civil movements. He was one of the founders of the Damascus Declaration in 2005 and was elected a member of its General Secretariat. He held that position until his sudden death yesterday evening.
Al-Dahak did not hesitate to express his support for the Syrian Revolution that he long waited for, actively engaging in and believing in its victory. He also sought to reflect its goals in his various activities, refusing to leave his hometown despite the many dangers and threats.
Born in 1936, al-Dahak was a prominent intellectual best known for his ever renewed mentality as well as his humility and closeness to the young people, thousands of whom were educated by al-Dahhak who distilled in them the love for their country as well as commitment to the principles of freedom and democracy.
May Abdul Karim al-Dahhak rest in peace. May the revolution for freedom and dignity emerge victorious.
Long live Syria and its people, free and with honor.
