Suheir Atassi

Who is Suheir Atassi?

Suheir Atassi is the leading female secular activist in the Syrian opposition, and since November 2012 co-vice-president of the opposition government. She has been called the "Lady of the Revolution" and is widely respected in secular and intellectual circles within the Syrian opposition structure. She had previously run the media wing of the banned Jamal Atassi Forum, which was named after her father, a founding member of the Ba'ath Party who later left and founded the Democratic Arab Socialist Union.

Atassi was born in Damascus in 1971 to a prominent political family from Homs. 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.

In December 2013 Atassi resigned as Vice-President of the exile 'National Coalition' after a corruption scandal involving aid moneys. She said she would keep her position as chairwoman for the opposition aid agency, the Assistance Coordination Unit, based in Turkey.