ICC Note: A personal story highlights how far the Syrian conflict has come from its beginnings as a push for more rights and freedoms from a dictatorial regime. Some Christians were among those originally pushing for greater freedoms, but now they see that movement has been replaced by extremist groups seeking to impose an Islamic state. “Leave this country, it’s not ours anymore,” was the conclusion of a Syrian Christian.
03/25/2014 Syria (Al-Monitor) – It is easy to forget amid all the mayhem, carnage and brutality in the Syrian conflict today that it was once an inspirational and peaceful mass movement for political change and civil rights. That time seems like an eternity ago, and everything that has transpired since then — all the destruction, murders, beheadings, extremism, barrel bombs, dead children and floods of refugees — could never have been imagined by the people who were its inspiration and its spark, the brave civil activists who started it all.
These activists were predominantly liberal and secular, but hailed from all social and religious backgrounds. They were united by a vision and a noble aim. They espoused the kinds of freedoms and political rights for which most Syrians yearned. The way they were marginalized and ruthlessly hunted — first by the regime and later by the extremist Islamist rebels as secular apostates and the moderates for exposing their crimes — is just one more tragedy in a seemingly endless list that has afflicted this miserable nation.
The civil activists are now a dying breed, hunted into extinction by the malice of those who view them as a threat. In Syria, that means just about anyone with a gun. Most of them are now dead, in jail or have fled the country. Perhaps nothing better highlights their plight than the story of Marcell Shehwaro, the daughter of a respected priest and a well-known opposition civil activist in Aleppo.
Shehwaro has been involved with the anti-regime civil movement since the start of the Syrian crisis, and along with a small group of friends engaged in a number of activities ranging from aid work to organizing protests, online activism to distributing anti-government fliers. After the rebels stormed and took east Aleppo in July 2012, Shehwaro and most of her group left the regime-held west for the newly “liberated” areas, where they continued their work as before, only now with a larger degree of freedom. This situation did not, however, last long.
As rebel factions became increasingly radicalized, and an extremist hard-line ideology spread among their ranks, her group began to run into all sorts of trouble. The main problem, of course, was that they believed in a secular democratic state, which is anathema to the jihadists. In fact, many activists across Syria have been negatively labeled as secular, an accusation that has landed them in rebel jails or worse.
Shehrawo’s group was acutely aware of this danger and did not openly campaign or actively spread their ideas, preferring to stick to aid work, which meant that the armed rebels, for the most part, left them alone. That is, until last week, when Shehrawo and her group were busy at a bustling roundabout making murals to the martyrs of the revolution in time for the third anniversary of the rebellion.
A member of the radical Jaish al-Mujahidin approached and demanded that Shehrawo wear a hijab to cover her hair, even after being told that she was a Christian. Shehrawo refused, and a scuffle broke out, after which she was arrested by armed men and taken to a rebel Sharia court. She was freed only after signing an agreement to wear the veil from then on.
Distraught, Shehrawo immediately wrote a poignant post for her Facebook page, which she later removed out of fear and following pressure from other activists. Regardless, she had already revealed a great deal about how she felt. Most important was her message to other Christians: “It is impossible for Christians to live with this armed opposition. … When I asked what they will do with them, some groups said they will force them to wear the veil. Others said they will kick them out. … I was wrong, your fears were justified. Leave this country, it’s not ours anymore.”
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