Kholoud Waleed or Kholoud Helmi (; born in 1984 in

Darayya Darayya () is a suburb of Damascus in Syria, the centre of Darayya lying south-west of the centre of Damascus. Administratively it belongs to Rif Dimashq. History and population Darayya is one of the oldest cities in Syria, reportedly the pl ...

) is a

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

n journalist, and co-founder and editor of the underground newspaper ''

Enab Baladi ''Enab Baladi'' () is a Syrian nonprofit media organization that publishes a newspaper with the same name, in Arabic and English. It was established in Darayya, Syria in 2011, and is also a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. History and profile ...

.'' She is a recipient of the

Anna Politkovskaya Award The Anna Politkovskaya Award was established in 2006 to remember and honor the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya (1958–2006), murdered in Moscow on 7 October 2006 in order to silence her reporting about the war in Chechnya. The aw ...

for her reporting about the Syrian Civil War.

Early life

Waleed grew up in

and studied

English Literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

Damascus University Damascus University () is the largest and oldest university in Syria, located in the capital Damascus, with campuses in other Syrian cities. It was founded in 1923 as the Syrian University () through the merger of the Faculty of Medicine of Dama ...

before becoming a teacher in her native Syria. As a result of the

Darayya massacre The Darayya massacre () was a massacre carried out by Syrian government forces of Bashar al-Assad that occurred between 20 and 25 August 2012 in the town of Darayya in the Rif Dimashq province of Syria, during the Syrian civil war. Backgrou ...

, she left the town and fled to the countryside with her family.

Work as journalist and activism

Not having any journalistic training, Waleed teamed up with friends to report about civil war in Syria. As their work gained momentum, they created the newspaper ''Enab Baladi'' with the intention of reporting the "voice of the vulnerable". Waleed and the newspaper claim that they have been subject to threats from multiple parties involved in the war which prompted her to live in hiding. Her brother was arrested by government forces in 2012 and his fate is unknown. For a period of time she was exiled in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Despite this, she also organised demonstrations, demanding democracy and free speech as well as highlighting

human rights abuses Human rights are universally recognized moral principles or norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both national and international laws. These rights are considered inherent and inalienable, meaning t ...

. In 2015 she was awarded the Anna Politkovskaya Award for her continued efforts as a journalist.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waleed, Kholoud Syrian journalists Syrian women journalists Living people Damascus University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people)