Loubna Mrie

Loubna Mrie (born 1991) is a Syrian civil rights activist.

Mrie comes from an Alawite family from a village near Latakia. Her father is a high official in the Syrian Air Force Intelligence. Despite her family ties, she is one of a few Alawites to join the fight against the Assad regime and has been branded a traitor by her father.[1]

As rioting broke out in the initial stages of the Syrian Civil War, Loubna attended Latakia University[2] but moved to Damascus in 2012 as Latakia was deemed to be unsafe for activists.[3] This was due to Assad troops opening fire on civilian protestors.[4] She later joined the Free Syrian Army (FSA) where she helped with the transport of food and medical aid, then with the smuggling of ammunition.[3] She promoted the aims of the revolution in the Alawitian community and spoke with the victims of government-run troops.[5] After her father issued a warrant for her arrest, she fled in August 2012 to Turkey.[6]

On August 11, 2012, her mother was abducted, according to her father, who subsequently broke off all contact with her.[5] Loubna then received information from a friend with details about the death of her mother. It is said that her father killed her mother. In an interview with The Guardian, she talked about her father stating that "he wished he could do the same to me."[5]

She later became a photojournalist with Reuters based in Aleppo where she covered the conflict then moved to New York where she is a researcher and commentator on Syrian and Middle Eastern affairs. She has been published in The Washington Post and The New Republic, among other publications.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Syria conflict: 'My father wants me dead', 2013-05-02, retrieved 2016-12-08
  2. ↑ "Alawite FSA supporter whose father backs Assad tells of a Syrian family ripped apart | The National". Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  3. 1 2 "I Left My Family for the Free Syrian Army | VICE | United States". VICE. 2012-11-27. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  4. ↑ Slackman, Michael (2011-03-25). "Syrian Troops Open Fire on Protesters in Several Cities". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  5. 1 2 3 Chulov, Martin (2012-11-11). "Syrian exile: 'My mother is dead. And it was my father who killed her'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  6. ↑ "İstanbul'da yalnız bir Suriyeli - Akşam". aksam.com.tr. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
  7. ↑ "Loubna Mrie, Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, New York University". neareaststudies.as.nyu.edu. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
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