Openly gay Syrian blogger abducted by pro-government forces
As Syria continues to struggle with political unrest, one of the most recent victims is Amina Arraf, an anti-government openly lesbian blogger who goes by the pen name Amina Abdallah. Arraf has been blogging about the arrest in her country on her blog “A Gay Girl in Damascus”, but a couple days ago was abducted by pro-government forces.
Her cousin Rania wrote about the abduction on Amina’s blog: “Amina was seized by three men in their early 20s. According to the witness (who does not want her identity known), the men were armed.” Rania goes on to report that the men covered Amina’s mouth and hustled her into “a red Dacia Logan with a window sticker of [president Bashar al-Assad’s deceased brother] Basel Assad.”
The Guardian says Amina — who is an American citizen as well — “had become increasingly popular after capturing the imagination of the Syrian opposition as the protest movement struggled in the face of the government crackdown.”
Supporters have taken to Facebook and Twitter to draw attention to Amina’s unlawful seizing, but, according to Rania, it’s unclear who took her or why. “Unfortunately, there are at least 18 different police formations in Syria as well as multiple different party militias and gangs,” she wrote in a recent update. “We do not know who took her so we do not know who to ask to get her back. It is possible that they are forcibly deporting her.”
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