Rukaia Al-abadi | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1988 Syria |
| Other names | Ruqaya al-Abadi |
| Occupation | Investigative journalist |
| Organization | Syrian Female Journalists Network |
| Awards | Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of Press (2022) |
Rukaia Al-abadi (born 1988) is a Syrian investigative journalist and photojournalist.
Al-abadi was born in 1988. [1]
Al-abadi began her career in Syria, documenting human rights violations faced by women during the Syrian Civil War. She worked covertly in Deir ez-Zor, an area under the control of ISIS, able to work undercover whilst wearing a niqab and from internet cafes. [2] [3]
In 2014, Al-abadi was arrested and imprisoned for 3 months due to her journalistic work. [3] She continued to work after her release, before fleeing to Turkey in October 2015 when it became too dangerous for her to continue to live and work in Syria. [3] Since 2019, Al-abadi has lived in Paris, France, initially seeking refuge at the Maison des Journalistes. [2] [3] [4]
In 2022, Al-abadi was co-awarded a Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Press, for the investigation “The Mahdi Scouts: A chronicle of child recruitment into Iranian militias” which was cowritten with Lebanese journalist Fatima Al-Othman. [5] [6] Her work has also been shortlisted by the Fetisov Journalism Awards and the Climate School and Greenpeace Award for Climate Justice. [6] She works with the Syrian Female Journalists Network as a mentor on the "Empowering a New Generation of Female Journalists" project. [2]