To: The Syrian Ambassador to the United States of America, His Excellency Imad Moustapha
To: The Syrian Ambassador to the United States of America, His Excellency Imad Moustapha
Your Excellency,
It was with great interest that I read your recent blog post “On Woe and Sorrow or How to Dispel Sadness,” dedicated “to the martyrs of Daraa.”
I would submit for your consideration that avoiding and preventing sorrows is superior to any means of dispelling them.
It is to this end that I urgently implore you to use all means necessary to insure the safe release of the writer Amina Abdallah Arraf al Omari.
She wrote this recently:
“We went up north and helped spread sparks, in the cities of the plain and by the banks of the Orontes; we listened and we carried messages. Some were sent beyond this land, others were carried here in turn. And we heard people talking of frustration; we’ve been pushing so long, they said, and they kill us and we just die… Why not take matters in our own hands and let them know? Take up the guns which are buried, uses bombs and make revolutionary justice.
I for one pushed back against that; we want a new Syria, a break from all that’s come before. If we take power by killing and torturing, if we make summary justice and examples of Them, how are we different?”
Please take immediate action to free Amina and all who are detained or imprisoned for their beliefs and expression.
sincerely,
Henry Edward Hardy
Somerville, MA, USA
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Scanlyze is an online magazine of essays, commentary, satire, and analysis. Were we half as clever, for inspiration we would take Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, Swift, Montaigne, or Seneca.
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Recent Comments
Regarding your letter to his excellency Imad Moustapha
Dear Mr. Hardy,
Although we are continuing to investigate the matter, we have been unable to find any official record of the alleged detention of Ms. Amina Abdallah Arraf al Omari.
As you are interested in the case of this Syrian-American blogger, and her well being, we assume that you are aware that her existence has came into question, after a woman in Britain said photographs circulating on the Internet were of her, and not this blogger supposedly in Damascus. The Associated Press reported on 06/08/2011 that:
“A representative for Jelena Lecic said the London woman first learned her likeness was being used on the Facebook account of a blogger known as Amina Arraf when her photo was linked to article about Arraf in the Guardian newspaper on Tuesday.”
Several media outlets have cited reports by unidentified activist and a blog post purportedly written by Arraf’s cousin, Rania Ismail confirming her alleged detention.
On 06/08/2011, the aforementioned activist said the group had “no independent confirmation” and had reported the story based on the cousin’s blog entry, and from two people who claimed to be friends but who also got the information from the blog.
“As far as we know, nobody’s emerged who has actually met her,” the activist said.
Efforts to contact Rania Ismail, the purported cousin, were unsuccessful.
Mark Toner, State Department Deputy Spokesman, stated that ” we’ve got officials both in Damascus and in Washington working to ascertain more information about her, and that includes confirmation of her U.S. citizenship. We’ve been unable to confirm that as of yet.”
We appreciate your concerns, but we also urge you checking the apparently inaccurate information from the media regarding this case.
Sincerely,
The Press Office
Embassy of Syria