Critical Cases: My Diary of the Syrian Revolution

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

A frontline eyewitness account of the Syrian Revolution from prizewinning journalist and activistHadi Alabdallah.

Hadi Alabdallah was an emergency medicine student in his mid-twenties when he became a citizen journalist, covering the attack by Assad's forces on the city of Homs in 2013. He and his colleague were the first to document evidence Hezbollah was fighting for the regime. After breaking the story, which changed the course of the war as it became clear Iran and also Russia were in alliance with Assad, Alabdallah became a sought after and trusted voice on social media, where he joined the ranks of cyber-dissenters. His memoir tracks his experience upon leaving his studies to become a first responder during the Arab Spring uprisings, through 2020, by which time he had fled north to Idlib Province among the rebel factions, which posed their own dangers to young reporters. Astonishing for its rendering of friendships forged during the emotional impacts of war, Alabdallah's friends and colleagues collectively dedicated their lives to the truth and to each other, though they risked capture, prison, torture, or death every day. Using creative language and style, Critical Cases explores not only the political concerns of the author and his closest friends, but gives centrality to their feelings during the life-changing mission they undertook by challenging the authoritarian regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Critically injured in an assassination attempt in Aleppo in 2016, Alabdallah spent months in recovery in Turkey, where he was interviewed for a multimedia feature on The New York Times. Later that year, he won the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Prize. Alabdallah's new Afterword remarks on the liberation of his country and the challenges that lie ahead.

Author Bio

Hadi Alabdallahis Syrian reporter and activist. Born in Homs in 1988 he rose to prominence in Syria in 2011 and 2012 when he covered the siege of Homs at the hands of the Syrian regime. In 2016 he won the prestigious Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Prize in the citizen journalist category. He currently resides in Homs in Syria and has worked for various Syrian opposition networks, including Syria TV. He is active on Instagram and Telegram.

Alessandro Columbuis Senior Lecturer in Arabic at the University of Westminster. Originally from Sardinia, Alessandro learned Arabic in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, and earned his PhD in Arabic literature from the University of Edinburgh. Hislatestpublicationis Zakariyya Tamir and the politics of the Syrian short story Modernity,gender and authoritarianism published by IB Tauris. He won the 2023 edition of theSheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understandingfor his translation of Zakariyya Tamir's Sour Grapes, published by Syracuse University Press.