A source sent me this and asked me to share:
"This concerns Kifah Ali Dib كفاح علي ديب, a young artist, writer and activist who was arrested along with Rami Hinawi on August 6 in Sehnaya in Damascus. They were initially taken by local "popular committees", which is a pro-Assad militia group supported by the intelligence services ("shabbiha" if you prefer the opposition term). They were then handed over to either Air Force Intelligence (I guess that would mean the base in Mezze Military Airport, a notorious torture center where interrogations are currently run by Col. Abdessalam Mahmoud, a really nasty figure) or some branch of Military Intelligence, sources differ. Since then, I don't think there's been any word on their whereabouts. Given what I've heard from others who have been through this, it is very likely - almost certain - that they are being mistreated and tortured.
Some background: Kifah Ali Dib is a young woman from Latakia but living in Damascus. She just finished an education at Damascus University, and works as an artist. She recently won a pan-Arab award for a children's book she's written, sponsored by the UAE Sharja government. She's been active calling for reforms and freedom and the fall of the regime from the very first days of the Arab revolutions, before the protests started in Syria, and she was arrested at least once before. She comes from an Alawite family with several former prisoners of conscience, mostly communists and other leftists. Personally, she's a secular leftist and feminist, and a member of the Harakat Maan (a secular nonviolent activist group). This spring, she was elected a member of the executive board of the National Coordination Bureau (هيئة النتنسيق الوطنية – the secuar/leftist coalition of Heitham Mannaa), as their top responsible for youth affairs.
It is obvious that the regime really has no justification at all for arresting her. This shows exactly how hollow their propaganda is. She is not involved with foreign powers, she doesn't support foreign intervention, she's not violent, she doesn't support armed insurgency, she's not Islamist. She's simply a secular democracy activist who has participated in peaceful protests. So she's in fact doing exactly what Bashar claims that everyone in Syria has the right to do, namely organize peacefully and on non-sectarian terms for their political rights. And despite all that, she's now been "disappeared" by the regime – so it's a very symbolic case, and it deserves attention for that reason as well.
This is pretty much all the info I have, but you could perhaps google to find a little more. There are a couple of support sites on Facebook as well. Please don't hesitate to ask if something is unclear."
PS I have received information that she has been released.
"This concerns Kifah Ali Dib كفاح علي ديب, a young artist, writer and activist who was arrested along with Rami Hinawi on August 6 in Sehnaya in Damascus. They were initially taken by local "popular committees", which is a pro-Assad militia group supported by the intelligence services ("shabbiha" if you prefer the opposition term). They were then handed over to either Air Force Intelligence (I guess that would mean the base in Mezze Military Airport, a notorious torture center where interrogations are currently run by Col. Abdessalam Mahmoud, a really nasty figure) or some branch of Military Intelligence, sources differ. Since then, I don't think there's been any word on their whereabouts. Given what I've heard from others who have been through this, it is very likely - almost certain - that they are being mistreated and tortured.
Some background: Kifah Ali Dib is a young woman from Latakia but living in Damascus. She just finished an education at Damascus University, and works as an artist. She recently won a pan-Arab award for a children's book she's written, sponsored by the UAE Sharja government. She's been active calling for reforms and freedom and the fall of the regime from the very first days of the Arab revolutions, before the protests started in Syria, and she was arrested at least once before. She comes from an Alawite family with several former prisoners of conscience, mostly communists and other leftists. Personally, she's a secular leftist and feminist, and a member of the Harakat Maan (a secular nonviolent activist group). This spring, she was elected a member of the executive board of the National Coordination Bureau (هيئة النتنسيق الوطنية – the secuar/leftist coalition of Heitham Mannaa), as their top responsible for youth affairs.
It is obvious that the regime really has no justification at all for arresting her. This shows exactly how hollow their propaganda is. She is not involved with foreign powers, she doesn't support foreign intervention, she's not violent, she doesn't support armed insurgency, she's not Islamist. She's simply a secular democracy activist who has participated in peaceful protests. So she's in fact doing exactly what Bashar claims that everyone in Syria has the right to do, namely organize peacefully and on non-sectarian terms for their political rights. And despite all that, she's now been "disappeared" by the regime – so it's a very symbolic case, and it deserves attention for that reason as well.
This is pretty much all the info I have, but you could perhaps google to find a little more. There are a couple of support sites on Facebook as well. Please don't hesitate to ask if something is unclear."
PS I have received information that she has been released.
