26 Facts About Abdulrazak Eid

Abdulrazak Eid, is a Syrian writer and thinker and one of Syria's leading reformers.

Abdulrazak Eid helped to found the Committees of Civil Society in Syria, drafted the Statement of 1000 and helped to draft the Damascus Declaration.

Abdulrazak Eid fled Syria in 2008 for exile in Europe where he was elected president of the National Council of Damascus Declaration in exile.

Abdulrazak Eid finished his undergraduate studies in Arabic Literature at Aleppo University in 1974.

Abdulrazak Eid was expelled by the Syrian Intelligence Security Forces Mukhabarat after 2 months for political reasons.

Abdulrazak Eid was banned from any professional work for most of his life because of his opposing political opinions.

Abdulrazak Eid spent most of his time reading and writing books.

Abdulrazak Eid has published more than 30 books and written and published many research articles.

Abdulrazak Eid has been an opponent of the Syrian government all of his life.

Abdulrazak Eid was banned from working, arrested many times, tried by the Military Court for his articles, kidnapped and threatened with assassination because of his opposing positions and writings.

One of the most recognized was the Jamal al-Atassi Forum in Damascus, where Abdulrazak Eid delivered its first lecture, entitled "The Culture of Fear".

For four years, Abdulrazak Eid wrote from time to time in the An-Nahar newspaper, which became the main publisher of his critical and opposition articles.

Abdulrazak Eid was brought in front of the Military Court in Aleppo in June 2004 because of them.

Abdulrazak Eid was kidnapped by the Mukhbarat in the street at midnight on February 8,2007, because of an article in As-Safir newspaper in which he criticized Hezbollah and its alliance with Syria and Iran.

Abdulrazak Eid was freed the next day after they threatened to cut out his tongue if he spoke against Hezbollah again.

Abdulrazak Eid was finally allowed to travel after a major two-month support campaign.

The threat said that it would be made to look as if the Salafists had killed him to avenge the assassination of their leader Abul-Kaka, who was mentioned in an article by Neil MacFarquhar in The New York Times, for which Abdulrazak Eid had been interviewed.

Abdulrazak Eid spent two months in Beirut, then went with his family into exile in France.

Abdulrazak Eid has been living there as a political refugee since then, supported by human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Revivre.

Abdulrazak Eid was elected president of the National Council of Damascus Declaration in Exile in October 2010.

Abdulrazak Eid is one of the main figures in the Syrian opposition and plays a major role in the Syrian Revolution.

In May 2011, Abdulrazak Eid invited Syrian opposition members and figures to the Antalya Conference for Change in Syria, second of its kind since the beginning of the uprising, which he organized together with Ammar al-Qurabi.

When Burhan Ghalioun, first chairman of the later Syrian National Council, criticized the Antalya Conference as "serving foreign agendas," Abdulrazak Eid accused Ghalioun of attempting to appease the regime.

Abdulrazak Eid has published in many journals, magazines, and newspapers since 1975.

Abdulrazak Eid was prohibited from traveling to Doha, Qatar, to take part in a conference on "Democracy and Human Rights in the Arab World" organized by the Aspen Institute.

Abdulrazak Eid was prohibited from attending another conference organized by the Aspen Institute in Istanbul at the same time.