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Amina Abdallah Araf, gay Syrian blogger?

Phil and Saleema picked up the intriguing story that is now generating international attention of the lesbian Syrian blogger, Amina Abdallah Araf, who was allegedly picked up by Syrian security forces a few days ago.  Andy Carvin from NPR and a few other bloggers who were motivated by a desire to help free Amina have been doing a lot of research in the last 24 hours to try find anyone who has met her or can verify her existence, so far they have gotten nowhere.  Click here for what Andy Carvin has to say.  And check out what blogger Liz Henry has uncovered: Painful doubts about Amina. Finally, the Wall Street Journal is saying that the pictures people are circulating of Amina are not actually hers but of a British woman who has no ties to the case and does not know how her pictures were lifted off of her Facebook page.  I don’t know who Amina Araf is, and I thought her post about her father the hero was poignant but I remember feeling skeptical after reading it–I couldn’t imagine that Syrian security forces would be shamed by an old man and a lesbian blogger but I didn’t want to rain on anyone’s parade because of the politics involved. I hope that whoever she is, she is safe. 

PS. Montreal site says that Araf’s girlfriend lives in Montreal. But she has apparently never met her face to face.

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