Bassam Said Ishak
Member of Presidential Council, Syrian Democratic Council
Bassam Said Ishak is a human rights advocate and Syrian political figure. He was the Executive Director of the Syrian Human Rights Organization based in Damascus, Syria from 2004 to 2011. In November 2011, Ishak was one of the founders of the Syrian National Council, a council representing the political opposition to the Assad regime when the Syrian uprising was new. He later briefly joined the Syrian National Coalition in 2013, and then joined the Syrian Democratic Council in 2015 and currently serves on its Presidential Advisory Committee. He has been serving with the US Mission of the Syrian Democratic Council since 2018.
Ishak is a Syriac Christian, which has been a persecuted minority under the current Syrian Assad regime. He currently serves as President of the Syriac National Council. Ishak was a candidate for Syrian Parliament in 2003 and 2007. His father was a Syriac Christian politician who played a key role in Syria’s independence from the French mandate in 1946.
Ishak holds a master’s degree in Ethnic and Political Conflict Resolution from Royal Roads University in Canada. He is married with three children.
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