Ammar Abdulhamid, a Washington-based Syrian dissident, said that while Tlass could provide valuable information, the opposition on the ground will not accept him as a leader. After so many months of “confrontations and sacrifice,” he said, “legitimate leaders of the transitional period can only rise from the ranks of the internal revolutionary movement.”
On July 29, 2012, the “I am Syria” campaign was launched as “a neutral campaign, politically, religiously, and militarily, to express support and solidarity for the people of Syria and victims of the conflict in the area.” The campaign was launched as a joint effort between the the Summer Institute for Human Rights and Genocide Studies in Buffalo. Impunity Watch, and the Tharwa Foundation. You can follow the Campaign on Facebook and Twitter. Though I was chosen as the President of the Campaign, it is in fact the brainchild of my vice-president and friend, Professor David Crane, the founding Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (2002-05). Video below.
Quoted in the Time:
If Syria is allowed to fracture, each ethnic group hunkering down, says Ammar Abdulhamid, an exiled Syria opposition leader in Washington, “it won’t be easy to put humpty dumpty back together again. It would take decades of instability and violence to sort itself out. And that is what we’re most worried about.”
One of the most feared men in Syria before his assassination, Assef Shawkat told me minority rights were a CIA invention.
Ammar Abdulhamid, guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 24 July 2012 07.58 EDT
“The country is not ready for revolutions and civil disobedience,” he told me.
“That’s your opinion,” I replied.
“We won’t imprison you and let your friends in America turn you into a hero.” Continue reading “The day I met Syria’s Mr Big”
The Ammar Abdulhamid Archive 