Amina Abdallah Araf al Omari

Amina Abdallah Araf al Omari,  was a fictional character or hoax persona created and maintained by American peace activist and graduate student Tom MacMaster. The identity was presented as a Syrian-American blogger, identifying herself as a lesbian on her weblog A Gay Girl In Damascus and blogging in support of increased civil and political freedom for Syrians. During the 2011 Syrian uprising, a posting on the blog purportedly by "Amina's" cousin claimed that Amina was abducted on 6 June 2011. This sparked a strong backlash from the LGBT community and was covered widely in mainstream media.

In the wake of the reports, questions arose regarding the possibility that Araf al Omari was an elaborate hoax. Author/blogger Liz Henry, Andy Carvin (a journalist with National Public Radio in Washington, D.C.) and others raised doubts about the identity of the blogger.when? The photos purported to be of her were proven to be a woman residing in Britain with no relation to Syria, the blog, or the ongoing protests in the country. On June 12, Ali Abunimah and Benjamin Doherty of the website Electronic Intifada conducted an investigation that pointed to a strong possibility that the identity of "Amina" was MacMaster, an American living in Edinburgh. Hours later, Tom MacMaster posted on "Amina's" blog and took responsibility for the blog and the false reports of her capture.

Creation and spread

MacMaster created the character Amina Abdallah as a fictional persona; MacMaster said in an interview with National Public Radio (NPR) that he could not recall when he created the character. NPR stated that it found posts from "Amina" at the Yahoo! group "alternate-history" dating to February 2006. MacMaster said that he created the Amina character so he could more easily participate in discussions about the Middle East. MacMaster argued that if he used his real name, people would have believed that he was too closely tied to the United States, but as Amina he would have more credibility. As Amina, MacMaster posted on various listservs and websites. MacMaster fleshed out her character, and he said that he began writing a novel based on the character. He created various profiles for Amina at various social networking sites. Originally he used the character to discuss politics of the Middle East and science fiction. In the northern hemisphere fall of 2010, MacMaster moved Amina to Syria. MacMaster said that he was going to stop using the persona by then. Eyder Peralta of NPR said that "But the Arab Spring called her back.

In February 2011 MacMaster posted as "Amina" on the website Lez Get Real, which was operated by Bill Graber, a straight man pretending to be a lesbian woman named "Paula Brooks." MacMaster and Graber corresponded, and under the "Amina" character MacMaster flirted with the "Paula" character. Graber said that the interaction "was a major sock-puppet hoax crash into a major sock-puppet hoax. As "Amina" MacMaster wrote pieces for Lez Get Real.

Homosexuality

Homosexual activity is illegal in Syria, and is punishable by at least 3 years in prison, and it is uncommon for gay Arabs to be open about their sexuality. Syria's human rights record is among the worst in the world, according to Human Rights Watch. The character of Amina wrote openly about her sexual orientation, experiences, and aspirations: "I live in Damascus, Syria. It’s a repressive police state. Most LGBT people are still deep in the closet or staying as invisible as possible. But I have set up a blog announcing my sexuality, with my name and my photo. Am I crazy? Maybe. But I’m also aware of the winds of freedom and change blowing from one end of the Arab world to the other. And I want that freedom wind to bring with it our liberation, not just as Arabs and as Syrians, but also as women and as lesbians.

In an email interview with CNN MacMaster wrote as Amina that she believed that political change could improve gay rights. "A whole lot of long time changes are coming suddenly bubbling to the surface and views towards women, gay people and minorities are rapidly changing...What has really startled me has been the fact that I have received no criticism from Islamic sources...Instead, they've been entirely positive. It's sort of indicative of the sea change that's happened here; suddenly people are working together, regardless of their other views, to achieve a single goal: a free Syria.

Syrian uprising

The character of Amina was working on a book of her writings when she disappeared. She had gained popularity after her blogging about the Syrian opposition movement in the face of the government's crackdown on protests. The media in Western countries first paid attention to the blog around May 2011.

Her family was well-connected with relatives in the government and the Muslim Brotherhood, and being politically active was a "natural thing". However, she described, "Unfortunately, for most of my life being aware of Syrian politics means simply observing and only commenting privately.

Amina had been increasingly critical of the government in the months of the Syrian uprising. Her character wrote in late May of President Assad's regime: "they must go, they must go soon. That is all there is to say.  In April, Araf told how her father confronted two security agents who came to arrest her, threatened to rape her, and accused her of being involved in a salafist plot.

When unrest broke out, her character described the protests as if she was there: "Teargas was lobbed at us. I saw people vomiting from the gas as I covered my own mouth and nose and my eyes burned...I am sure I wasn't the only one to note that, if this becomes standard practice, a niqab is a very practical thing to wear in future.

Fictional biography

The character of Amina Abdallah Araf is a dual Syrian and American citizen, with an American mother and Syrian father. The Lede Blog (of The New York Times) noted that Amina's draft of her biography indicated "very deep" American roots. She wrote that she was born in Staunton, Virginia, in October 1975 to Abdallah Ismail Arraf and Caroline McClure Arraf. The McClures had emigrated to Virginia from Ulster in 1742. Four decades later, Ms. Araf added, her mother’s family fought in the American Revolution at Yorktown, “earning me the right to be in the DAR A Daughter of the American Revolution .

Her family moved to Syria at six months and she grew up between the two countries.She spent a long period in the US after 1982, when an Islamist uprising in Syria was being violently put down. She realized she was gay when she was 15 and it terrified her. After planning to attend Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, Georgia, she decided not to attend because she was troubled by the number of open lesbians on campus. She came out at 26 and returned to Syria to enjoy a calm life. There she taught English until the uprising closed classes.

Amina experienced prejudice both in the US and Syria, but says she sees no conflict in being both gay and Muslim. "I consider myself a believer and a Muslim: I pray five times a day, fast at Ramadan and even covered for a decade...I believe God made me as I am and I refuse to believe God makes mistakes. She described an experience finding other gay women in Syria: "I went into a hair salon one day and, not long after I arrived, I picked up on something between the women working there; I spoke around in circles and so did they and finally learned that the women there were all gay. We relaxed, we talked...I realized I'd found an underground outpost of our kind. I found a cafe where women held hands.

Amina's position as a dual citizen informed her political and cultural perspective, as well as being a lesbian. "I'm the ultimate outsider...my views are heavily informed by being both a member of a small marginal minority as an Arab Muslim in America and as a part of a majority as a Sunni in Syria, and of course as a woman and as a sexual minority." "It's tough being a lesbian in Syria," she said, "but it's certainly easier to be a sexual than a political dissident...There are a lot more LGBT people here than one might think, even if we are less flamboyant than elsewhere.