The unknown Syrian blogger: Fatima Khaled Saad

Written by Andrew Sampson for Safeworld

On the 28th of June Safeworld posted an article called 'Syria: Worries about blogger Fatima Khaled Saad'.

The article was in response to an appeal from Reporters Without Borders, which stated a young 22 year old blogger had been arrested by Syrian authorities.

In the report it said that Fatima Saad had been rushed to Latakia military hospital after being mistreated during a lengthy interrogation by intelligence officers.

Our immediate response was to launch a campaign for her release.

Despite appeals for further information, we were unable to discover anything else about Fatima. For several weeks we put out messages on Twitter. But no information was forthcoming. We even translated the appeal into Arabic.

It is with great sadness that we have heard today that Fatima died at a Damascus branch of the General Security Directorate.

We also now know more about Fatima. The following is from 'Women Unveiled'

Fatima was a part of a network of civilian journalists, as many others did, she adopted a  different name, and was known among her circle as Farah El Rayes.

As a qualified nurse, she was known in her poverty stricken suburb for her kindness and generosity. When Assad’s forces initiated the crackdown, she volunteered to teach other residents in the city basic first aid training. Her help was essential especially after regime forces destroyed the community’s only public clinic.

Saad was first arrested with her father and brother. Several of their belongings were confiscated, including Fatima’s camera. Found on the camera was a video and several images showing several of her friends carrying the Free Syrian Army’s flag and chanting against the regime.

Fatima was subjected to physical and psychological torture by the Syrian regime in an attempt to make her name those in her photos.

Our condolences go to Fatima's family and friends

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