Tuhama Mahmoud Ma'rouf (Arabic: تهامة محمود معروف; born 1964) is a Syrian dentist who was detained from February 2010 to June 2011 for her involvement in the banned Communist Labour Party in the early 1990s. Amnesty International designated her a prisoner of conscience, "detained solely for the peaceful exercise of her right to freedom of expression and association".^[1]

Arrest and imprisonment

Ma'rouf was originally detained in 1993 for her involvement with the PCA, along with eight other female activists.^[2] The arrests were part of a general crackdown on the party which effectively destroyed it.^[3]

She was then found guilty and sentenced in absentia on 5 November 1995 by the Supreme State Security Court (SSSC) of violating Article 306 of Syria's Penal Code, "membership in a secret organization which aims to change the economic and social status of the state".^[1][3] However, for unknown reasons, authorities did not arrest her to begin her sentence until 6 February 2010 in Aleppo.^[3] Three days later, she appeared before the court and was ordered to be transferred to Adra prison to serve her sentence of six years' imprisonment.^[1] On 18 February 2011, she began a hunger strike to demand a transfer to a woman's prison.^[1]

Amnesty International protested her imprisonment and called for her immediate release,^[1] as did the Committee on Human Rights of the US National Academy of Sciences,^[3] the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies,^[4] and Human Rights Watch.^[5]

Ma'rouf was released on 2 June 2011 as part of a general amnesty for political dissidents following the start of the Arab Spring protests.^[3]

Personal life

Ma'rouf received a degree in dentistry from Aleppo University in 1997. Her husband, Bakr Sidqi, is a writer and former political prisoner; they have two children.^[3]

References