US awards Syria refugee International Women of Courage Award

A Syrian refugee living in the UK has won the International Women of Courage Award given to her by the US Department of State alongside 11 other notable women from around the world.

Amina Khoulani, a Syrian refugee based in Manchester, was presented with the award at a ceremony hosted by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday. The US’ First Lady Melania Trump spoke at the ceremony and commended the women’s’ accomplishments before granting them the awards.

Khoulani, who moved to Manchester with her husband and three children last year, was one of the countless victims of the Syrian regime of Bashar Al-Assad and his security services. Due to her “peaceful activism” and calls for greater civil rights in the country, she was arrested by the regime and imprisoned for six months in 2013, and her husband was imprisoned for two and a half years. While they survived their sentences in Assad’s notorious prison network, her three brothers were killed during their detentions.

READ: ‘I finally learnt how to enjoy the torture,’ says former prisoner in Syria

Her third brother was confirmed to have also been tortured to death; information the family only discovered after Khoulani discovered a picture of his body in the infamous “Caesar report” which consists of thousands of pictures of the tortured corpses of Syrians which were leaked by a former regime photographer.

The Manchester-based charity for Syrian refugees living in the West – the Rethink Rebuild Society – said it “is proud of Mrs Khoulani’s achievement, which reflects the persistence of Syrians to pursue justice and freedom despite the difficulties they are facing as new refugees in host societies.”

Khoulani now reportedly devotes her life and time to help the families of forcibly displaced Syrians and refugees escaping from the conflict, and has founded an organisation named Families for Freedom.