Samira Khalil ( ar, سميرة الخليل) is a Syrian dissident, former political detainee and a revolutionary activist from the Homs region of Syria. Khalil is currently missing after being abducted in Douma on December 9, 2013, along with fellow activists
Razan Zaitouneh
Razan Zaitouneh (or Zeitunah; ar, رزان زيتونة; born 29 April 1977) is a Syrian human rights lawyer and civil society activist. Actively involved in the Syrian uprising, she went into hiding after being accused by the government of ...
, Wael Hamada, and Nazem Hammadi. She was previously arrested and detained for four years from 1987–1991 for her opposition to the
Al-Assad
The al-Assad family ( ar, عَائِلَة الْأَسَد '), also known as the Assad dynasty, has ruled Syria since General Hafez al-Assad became President of Syria in 1971 under the Ba'ath Party. After his death, in June 2000, he was succee ...
government in Syria.
Human Rights Activities and 2013–present Missing Status
After her imprisonment in the eighties, Khalil operated a publishing house before shifting her efforts to working with the families of detainees and writing about detention in Syria. Before her abduction in 2013, she was working to help women in Douma support themselves by initiating small income generating projects, and had stayed in Douma to establish two women's centres.
Khalil and her husband
Yassin al-Haj Saleh
Yassin al-Haj Saleh ( ar, ياسين الحاج صالح; born 1961)Jaysh al-Islam is responsible for Khalil's disappearance given their control of the area in which she and the other activists went missing.
Khalil was awarded the Petra Kelly Prize by the
Heinrich Böll Foundation
The Heinrich Böll Foundation (german: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung e.V., HBS) is a German, legally independent political foundation. Affiliated with the German Green Party, it was founded in 1997 when three predecessors merged. The foundation was n ...
Razan Zaitouneh
Razan Zaitouneh (or Zeitunah; ar, رزان زيتونة; born 29 April 1977) is a Syrian human rights lawyer and civil society activist. Actively involved in the Syrian uprising, she went into hiding after being accused by the government of ...