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Sunday 25 November 2012

Still no word on fate of Syria’s four bachelorettes


Meet the bachelorettes: Kinda Za'oor, Rima Dali, Rou'a Jaafar and Lubna Za'oor 

The fate and whereabouts of the four would-be “Brides in White” taken in by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s security agents in a Damascus souk last Wednesday remain unknown (see my post yesterday).
Rima Dali's solo protest last April (top left)
The four bachelorettes – Kanda and Lubna Za’oor, Ru’a Jaafar and Rima Dali – were detained as they paraded in typical white bridal gowns in Souk Midhat Pasha with banners calling for peace.
One of the foursome, Rima Dali, was detained last April 8 after a brave, solitary act, which saw her stand in the middle of a busy Damascus street in front of the Syrian parliament holding a banner reading, “Stop the killing, we want to build a country for all Syrians.”
A video showing Rima holding the banner in front of cars with women passersby applauding her went viral on YouTube.
Ru'a Jaafar and two of her works
For this, she was arrested but released within 48 hours after Syrian cyber activists organized a bold real-life protest by meeting on the same intersection she had stood at, holding banners with the same slogan.
A month later, Lyse Doucet interviewed Rima, among others, for the BBC video, “Are moderate Syrians being heard?”
Ru’a Jaafar, another member of the quartet, turns out to be a talented painter. Unfortunately, I have been unable so far to find snippets of information about the Za’oor pair, Kanda and Lubna.

Relevant illustration titled "Their idiocy heartens us" by Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat