“Olive of Damascus”
“Razan Zaitouneh” (born in Damascus, on April 29, 1977).
A human rights activist and lawyer, she was among the first to shed light on human rights issues in Syria after the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2011.
On October 6, 2011, she received the “Anna Politkovskaya” award from the British organization (RAW in War) for her online reports on atrocities against civilians in Syria.
On October 27, 2011, the European Parliament selected her, along with four other Arab citizens, to win the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
Razan Zaitouneh co-founded the Local Coordination Committees in Syria with activists to document the Syrian regime’s human rights violations, and her role was central in organizing the committees’ work.
At the end of 2013, Razan Zaitouneh and three of her colleagues were kidnapped from their workplace in the city of Douma under mysterious circumstances.
The Syrian regime and military factions were accused of her kidnapping, and the truth remains absent, awaiting a fair trial.
In light of her civil and human rights efforts and honorable stances, and in the hope of seeing her with us again soon, today we bestow upon “Razan Zaitouneh” the medal of the Syrian Future Movement.
