The Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), which is mainly comprised of Arab and Kurdish political forces along with others from the Kurdish region in northern Syria, concluded Feb. 25 its second congress in the Syrian northern city of al-Malikiyah, with the election of Riad Darar and Ilham Ahmed as co-chairmen.

Darar is a Syrian opposition figure living in Germany. He is an Arab and moderate Islamist. Born in Deir ez-Zor in 1954, he has a bachelor's degree in Arabic language and was a preacher and teacher at a mosque in Deir ez-Zor. He was a political activist from 2000 onward, working with civil society groups. He was imprisoned by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime for five years (2005-10) for his political views and accused of supporting the Kurdish cause.

Darar is an author and researcher on Islamic religious issues and has been publishing his writings on social media since the start of the Syrian uprising. He was a founding member of the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change established in June 2011, from which he later resigned in August 2014. He is a prominent member of the democratic Islamist current and is known for his writings on his personal blog, supporting the concepts of democracy and secularism.

Darar’s election to jointly head the SDC came after strongly pro-revolution Syrians demanded that an Arab be on the presidency of the council in the Kurdish areas.