The
Syrian blogger Lubna Mari has been an outspoken critic of the Assad
regime. Recently her mother was kidnapped by government minders in an
attempt to lure Lubna back into Syria and stop her from speaking out
against Syrian leadership and its human rights abuses.
Lubna says in the al-Arabiya article that she was suspicious when her mom’s phone had been off since August 13th, went back up randomly, followed by a call from her mom asking her to return to Syria because she was undergoing a medical operation.
She continued by saying this was really out-of-character for her mother and she felt instantly suspicious because her mom had been encouraging her to leave Syria and not come back for any reason out of fear for her daughter’s safety.
The circumstances of this kidnapping are unique because Lubna Mari and her family belong to a minority faction, the Alawites, which is the same group Bashar al-Assad himself belongs to.
She criticized her fellow Alawites for their silence against the regime and said that she and her mother never imagined this kind of treatment as punishment from the government because they are innocent of any crime. She claims that all she did through her continued criticism was ‘try to build a new Syria. A Syria for everyone.’
The regime is making a huge mistake by thinking it will get good human rights publicity by kidnapping and threatening a blogger's mother. That is my only commentary on that issue.
Lubna says in the al-Arabiya article that she was suspicious when her mom’s phone had been off since August 13th, went back up randomly, followed by a call from her mom asking her to return to Syria because she was undergoing a medical operation.
She continued by saying this was really out-of-character for her mother and she felt instantly suspicious because her mom had been encouraging her to leave Syria and not come back for any reason out of fear for her daughter’s safety.
The circumstances of this kidnapping are unique because Lubna Mari and her family belong to a minority faction, the Alawites, which is the same group Bashar al-Assad himself belongs to.
She criticized her fellow Alawites for their silence against the regime and said that she and her mother never imagined this kind of treatment as punishment from the government because they are innocent of any crime. She claims that all she did through her continued criticism was ‘try to build a new Syria. A Syria for everyone.’
The regime is making a huge mistake by thinking it will get good human rights publicity by kidnapping and threatening a blogger's mother. That is my only commentary on that issue.
