Sects, lies and videotape: a Syrian story, part 2
About this episode
Loubna Mrie shares her harrowing story of being falsely accused of espionage in Syria and the personal losses she faced while navigating her identity and activism.
While filming in rebel-held Syria, Loubna Mrie is falsely accused of being a spy – an accusation that spirals into a life-threatening ordeal, triggering the deepest loss of her life. In 2011, Loubna Mrie broke from her loyalist family to join Syria’s underground network of activists. She used her Alawite identity – the same minority sect as the ruling Assads – to move through checkpoints and secretly film anti-government protests, even as it put her in conflict with her powerful father and the regime that had shaped her childhood. But Loubna’s Alawite background made her a target for both sides. While filming in a rebel-held village, a local commander falsely accused her of being “an Alawite spy” and planned to execute her. Rescued at the last moment by a fellow activist, Loubna fled Syria – uploading a video declaring her support for the uprising before crossing into Turkey. What followed was a shattering personal loss. From exile, Loubna struggled with grief, guilt and addiction. She lost friends and a partner to the war, survived alone in a new country, and eventually entered rehab – where she learned that Bashar al-Assad had finally fallen from power in Syria. For Loubna, the…
People in this episode
Guest: Loubna Mrie
Topics covered
- Syria
- activism
- personal loss
- exile
- identity
- conflict
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Defiance: A Memoir of Awakening, Rebellion, and Survival in Syria
Places: Syria, Turkey
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