Background
Suleiman al-Halabi was born in 1777 in Kukan village, Afrin.
Suleiman al-Halabi was born in 1777 in Kukan village, Afrin.
He was tortured by burning his hand to the bone before being executed by impalement. In 1797, al-Halabi's father sent him to Cairo, Egypt to study Islamic sciences at Al-Azhar University. On June 14, 1800, al-Halabi approached Kléber's home in the guise of a beggar seeking an audience with Kléber.
He was 23 years old when he assassinated the commander of the French campaign on Egyptian soil. After they shook hands, he violently pulled the general toward him and stabbed him four times with a stiletto. He hid in a nearby park where he was found by French soldiers, who searched him and found his stiletto.
He was arrested and tortured, his right arm burnt to the bone while he denied any relationship with Sheikh Al-Sharkawi or the popular resistance movements. He was tried and sentenced to death by impalement. Today his skull and stiletto are on display at the Musée de l'Homme in Paris, under the caption, "Criminal," written in French.
An Arab nationalist play based on his assassination of General Kléber, "Sulayman Al-Halabi," was written by Egyptian playwright Alfred Farag in 1965. In Farag's interpretation, Al-Halabi's motives have more to do with popular Arab revolt against foreign occupation and tyranny, rather than political assassination for financial gain.
Kléber's chief engineer tried to defend him and was stabbed but not mortally wounded.