Razan Zeitouneh

Razan Zaitouneh or Zeitunah () is a Syrian human rights lawyer and activist. She was born 29 April 1977. In March 2013, Zeitouneh received the International Women of Courage Award from the U.S. State Department.  In December 2013, Zeitouneh disappeared in Syria.

 Early life  

Zaitouneh was part of the Syrian uprising.  She documented human rights in Syria for the Local Coordination Committees of Syria.  After the government accused her of being a foreign agent she went into hiding and her husband was arrested.

 Education and career 
Zaitouneh finished law school in 1999.  In 2001 started her work as lawyer, and she became a member of the team of lawyers for defense of political prisoners. In the same year, she was one of the founders of the Human Rights Association in Syria (HRAS). In 2005, Zaitouneh started SHRIL (the Syrian Human Rights Information Link), to report about human rights problems in Syria. In 2005, Zaitouneh became a member of the Committee to Support Families of Political Prisoners in Syria.

 Recognitions 
On 27 October 2011, Zaitouneh received the 2011 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, together with four other Arabs.  In 2011, she also received the Anna Politkovskaya Award. In 2013, Zaitouneh received the International Women of Courage Award.

In December 2013, pro-opposition websites said that Zaitouneh was kidnapped along with her husband, Wael Hamadeh, and two colleagues, Samira Khalil and Nazem Hammadi, in the opposition-held town of Douma to the north of Damascus. As of 4 February 2014, their location was still unknown.  The identity of the kidnappers was not certain, although they were suspected to be from the Islamist rebel group the Army of Islam.

 Awards 
 European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, 2011.
 The 2011 Anna Politkovskaya Award.
 The Ibn Rushd Prize for Freedom of Thought for the year 2012 in Berlin.
 International Women of Courage Award 2013 

 References 

 Other websites 


 Profile at Huffington Post
 2013 International Women of Courage Awards, U.S. State Department photostream on Flickr 
 Secretary's International Women of Courage Award (U.S. Department of State)

Category:1977 births
Category:Syrian activists
Category:Human rights activists
Category:Women who received the International Women of Courage Award
Category:Missing people
Category:Syrian lawyers