Disapeared in Damascus UPDATE

I am generally of the opinion that everything learned on the internet should be verified, and am not one of those who flies into indignant rage at gaffes and omissions that are really (if one is truly honest) things that most every one does at one time or another.

However, in some cases there are real, live, breathing victims. 

It is for these cases I save my bile.

Several days ago I wrote about a Syrian poet and blogger who was kidnapped. It turns out that not only was the kidnapping a hoax - so was her entire existence. (NYT, WSJ)

The perpetrator has apologized, (here, update here)

however . . .

This is not a victimless crime.

And while the debate rages about deceit and misrepresentation on the internet; its importance, its costs its possible benefits . . .

Real damage has been done to real lives and will undoubtedly continue.

Andrew Sullivan hosts a fair representation of the ongoing debate on his blog, The Dish. He has also posted a comment from one of his readers, which states more clearly than I ever could just what this deception has and will continue to cost. Please follow the link for the entire quote.

To bring attention to yourself and blog; you managed to bring the LGBT movement in the Middle East years back. You single-handedly managed to bring unwanted attention from authorities to our cause and you will be responsible for any LGBT activist who might be yet another fallen angel during these critical time[s].

 

Also, from In Disguise, by Jen Paton:

People are, not surprisingly, angry, about being deceived, and about an apology that manages to not apologize at all. For some, the anger was more than theoretical: people who were worried about “Amina” put themselves in potential danger in inquiring about her: as the anonymous editor of Gay Middle East.com wrote, “Your apology is not accepted, since I have myself started to investigate Amina’s arrest. I could have put myself in a grave danger inquiring about a fictitious figure. Really … Shame on you!!!”

And here's a note from JEZEBEL on the subject - sarcasm.

Photo: The Consequences of War, Peter Paul Rubens.

Disapeared in Damascus

The Young Syrian Blogger Who Wrote the Poem Below has been Kidnapped, grabbed off the street in Syria. 

This is from a post placed on her blog, A Gay Girl in Damascus, today by her cousin:  

Earlier today, at approximately 6:00 pm Damascus time, Amina was walking in the area of the Abbasid bus station, near Fares al Khouri Street. [...]

Amina was seized by three men in their early 20’s. According to the witness (who does not want her identity known), the men were armed. [...]

One of the men then put his hand over Amina’s mouth and they hustled her into a red Dacia Logan with a window sticker of Basel Assad.

 Update:

I have been on the telephone with both her parents and all that we can say right now is that she is missing. Her father is desperately trying to find out where she is and who has taken her.

Please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers, as well as the rest of her people and their struggle to take flight. 

*     *     *

Bird Songs

- by Amina Abdallah Araf al Omari

The bird flies free
Knowing no boundaries
Borders mean nothing
When you have wings

My heart and my soul
Long to follow and soar
Out over mountains
And deserts and seas

I have no wings
And earth presses in
Wrapped in a sheet
Forever to lie

Weighed down by dirtclods
Never to feel
Wind on my wings
Sun on my back

Soaring and flying
Freedom is coming
Here am I wanting
To know it one day