Dr. Razan Ghazzawi, (; born 1980) is a Syrian-Palestinian

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

ger, campaigner, teacher, and activist, originally from Homs in Syria and Gaza in Palestine. Ghazzawi finished their PhD in Gender Studies and International Relations at the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

. They currently work as a tenure-track assistant professor in Queer Studies at Oregon State University, USA, since September 2023. Ghazzawi has been highly involved as a dissident since they started blogging in 2005, and weaponized their blogging to disseminate information about Syrian regime human rights violations following the 2011

Syrian Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

Uprising. Ghazzawi has been particularly outspoken on activists' arrests and the violations of human rights committed by the

Bashar al-Assad Bashar al-Assad (born 11September 1965) is a Syrian politician, military officer and former dictator Sources characterising Assad as a dictator: who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until fall of the Assad regime, his government ...

government, as well as on the sectarianism, Arab racism, and transphobia and homophobia towards Syrian ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities within Syrian cisgender and straight activist communityand opposition in diaspora and exile. Ghazzawi was called "iconic blogger and leading activist" by ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

''. Jillian York (who has been called "one of the leading scholars on Internet control and censorship") wrote that Ghazzawi was "one of

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...

heroes."

Education and career

Ghazzawi received their diploma in English literature from

Damascus University Damascus University () is the largest and oldest university in Syria, located in the capital Damascus, with campuses in other Syrian cities. It was founded in 1923 as the Syrian University () through the merger of the Faculty of Medicine of Dama ...

in 2003. They obtained a master's degree in

Comparative Literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

from the University of Balamand, Lebanon, in 2011, and second master's degree in Gender, Sexuality, and the Body from the University of Leeds in the UK. They completed their PhD in Gender Studies and International Relations in 2022 from the University of Sussex, and did a postdoc at EUME in Berlin, Germany in 2022-2023. Ghazzawi became the Media Officer in the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression in the Arab World. As of 2023, they were appointed as a tenure-track assistant professor in Queer Studies at Oregon State University, USA.

Activism and arrests

Ghazzawi was arrested by Syrian authorities on 30 November 2011 while on their way to attend a conference on press freedom in

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

. The following week, they were brought to court, charged by authorities with trying to incite sectarian strife, spreading false information and weakening national sentiment, a charge often leveled against those who challenge the Syrian government, according to rights activists." Ghazzaw's arrest sparked an online outcry and an international campaign called for their immediate release. There was a

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campaign for their release and

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

has declared them a

prisoner of conscience A prisoner of conscience (POC) is anyone imprisoned because of their race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views. The term also refers to those who have been imprisoned or persecuted for the nonviolent expression of their conscienti ...

. Before their arrest, they declared in their blog, "Do you understand, that I was scared to protest, but now I am no longer scared?" they had also written: "If anything happens to me, know that the regime does not fear the prisoners but those who do not forget them." On 19 December 2011, they were reported to have been freed, and their employer, the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, confirmed this. However, they still faces the charges, which carry a maximum sentence of fifteen years imprisonment. Ghazzawi is one of few Syrian-Palestinian bloggers in Syria who write under their real names, even after their arrest. Ghazzawi was again arrested on 16 February 2012, during a raid on the offices of the Syrian Center for Freedom of Expression in Damascus, due to their activist works. Ghazzawi was arrested along with thirteen of their colleagues, including the Head of the Center,

Mazen Darwish Mazen Darwish () is a Syrian lawyer and free speech advocate. He is the president of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression. News organizations, including Reuters and the Associated Press, have described him as one of Syria's most ...

, and his wife Yara Bader.Hisham Almiraat (18 February 2012
"Syria: Razan Ghazzawi arrested … again"
. '' The Prince Arthur Herald''. they were freed again on 18 February 2012, but they were not allowed to leave the country. Ghazzawi were ordered to report to the police on a daily basis in order to pursue their interrogation.

Awards and recognition

Razan Gazzawi was honored with the 2012's Human Rights Defenders at Risk award by the Dublin-based Front Line Defenders foundation on 8 June 2012. Since they could not travel to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

due to carceral and court restrictions following their imprisonment, their colleague Dlshad Othman, who fled Syria in December 2011 accepted the award on their behalf. they were recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2013, when they used to identify as a woman.

References

External links

Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghazzawi, Razan People of the Syrian civil war Syrian prisoners and detainees Syrian bloggers Syrian dissidents Damascus University alumni Living people 1980 births Syrian emigrants to the United States Syrian activists Syrian women activists University of Balamand alumni American people imprisoned in Syria Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Syria Journalists imprisoned in Syria Syrian women bloggers Syrian women journalists American women bloggers American bloggers American women journalists