Syrian Kurdish pastor released, church official says

Syrian authorities have released Syrian Kurdish Christian pastor Nihad Hassan more than two weeks after he was detained over social media posts, a Kurdish church official in Lebanon told AFP on Tuesday.

The official said Hassan was released on Monday evening and would return to Lebanon, where he usually lives, because staying in Syria was dangerous for him and his family.

Last week, the church said on its Facebook page that Syrian authorities had arrested Hassan, pastor of the Kurdish Evangelical Church in Beirut, in connection with social media posts attributed to him.

A local Syrian official told AFP that Hassan was detained in Afrin, a historically Kurdish-majority region in northwest Syria, over allegations of “inciting religious hatred” on social media. At least one post on what appeared to be Hassan's Facebook account seemed to be directed against Muslims.

The church said Hassan is originally from the Afrin region and converted to Christianity in 2008.

Syria's new authorities have pledged to protect minority groups, but those communities have expressed increased safety concerns after sectarian bloodshed last year and a deadly suicide bombing in a Damascus church.