Bassma Al Jandaly ( ar, بسمة الجندلي) is a journalist based in the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
; she worked as a community and crime correspondent at Dubai-based English-language newspaper ''
Gulf News
''Gulf News'' is a daily English language newspaper published from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It was first launched in 1978, and is currently distributed throughout the UAE and also in other Persian Gulf Countries. Its online edition was launch ...
'', and is known for her demonstrated interests in humanitarian causes.
Personal life
Bassma Al Jandaly was born on August 30, 1977, in Leningrad in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
(now
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
), to a Sunni Muslim Syrian family. She has three sisters and one brother; and her father Hassan Jandaly was a high ranking General in the Syrian army. She is also a first cousin of
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; a ...
,
Mona Simpson
Mona Simpson (née Jandali; June 14, 1957) is an American novelist. She has written six novels and studied English at the University of California, Berkeley and Languages and Literature at Columbia University.
She won a Whiting Award for her fi ...
and
Malek Jandali
Malek Jandali ( ar, مالك جندلي, ) (born 1972) is a German-born Syrian- American pianist and composer. He is the founder of the nonprofit organization Pianos for Peace, which aims to build peace through music and education. Jandali imm ...
. Jobs’ father Abdul Fattah Jandali and Bassma are still in contact, and she interviewed him after Jobs' death.
Career
Bassma Al Jandaly started her career as a journalist at ''Gulf News'', an English newspaper based in the United Arab Emirates. One of her more notable stories is the exposing of a United States national by the name of Sharla Musabih, who ran a human trafficking syndicate. Sharla was selling the babies of prostitutes who were sent to her shelter seeking help, all the while being portrayed as a non-government organization for women's right in the UAE.
On October 31, 2006, Bassma published the very first article regarding executions in the UAE.
In 2015 Bassma Al Jandaly left ''Gulf News'' and joined The General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai as a Senior Journalist, Editor and Content developer, during which she was part of the Dubai government Permanent Committee of labourers’ Affairs in Dubai (PCLAD); she later resigned in 2017 to work on personal projects.
Major activities
In 2009, Bassma was nominated by the state department in the
International Visitor Leadership Program The International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) is a professional exchange program funded by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The mission of IVLP is to offer current and emerging international leader ...
on effective women in the media in the US. While there, she wrote an article about her experience as a Muslim in the United States of America.
In 2010, Bassma was invited to join the President of the
UAE Federal National Council to cover the Business trip to
Algeria
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, which was an operation between the UAE and Algeria that was meant to strengthen co-operation between the two nations.
In 2013, Bassma interviewed the ruler of Ajman, Sheikh
Humaid Bin Rashid Al Nuaimi
Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi was the Ruler of Ajman, one of the Trucial States which today form the United Arab Emirates (UAE), from 1838–1841, when he was deposed by his brother, Abdelaziz bin Rashid Al Nuaimi. Humaid ruled from Abdelaziz' de ...
; the interview focused on education and its importance.
in 2014, as part of an Official delegation visit to
Kurdistan
Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, Kurdish la ...
by
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
, Bassma was invited to join the
Dubai Chamber of Commerce for the inauguration of the representative office in Kurdistan.
Arrest
In June 2005, Bassma Al Jandaly was departing on an official trip to Greece when she was stopped at Dubai airport and was detained for an arrest warrant issued by
Sharjah police, for an article she had written about a man who had been slashing women in the emirate of
Sharjah
Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area.
Sharjah is the capital o ...
. The United Arab Emirates' interior minister at the time,
Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan ( ar, سيف بن زايد آل نهيان; born 1968) is United Arab Emirates's minister of interior since October 2004 and deputy prime minister since May 2009.[The committee to protect journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American independent non-profit, non-governmental organization, based in New York City, New York, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journ ...]
(CPJ) also wrote an article regarding the arrest; the CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said she was relieved that Bassma was released.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jandaly, Bassma
1977 births
Living people
Journalists from Saint Petersburg
Emirati journalists
Emirati women journalists