Damascus Spring
Suheir Atassi was born in Damascus in 1971 to a prominent political family from Homs. She is daughter of Jamal al-Din al-Atassi, prominent pan-Arabist in Syria. She studied French literature and education at the University of Damascus, and was active in the Damascus Spring, helping to form and run the Jamal al-Atassi Forum. She revived the forum online in 2009 in order to help promote democracy and human rights in Syria. On 16 March 2011 she was arrested for her activities. After her release, she had to go into hiding before fleeing Syria to Jordan and then France.