Personal Testimonies: Women Alawite Activists Deprived of Inheritance

Some women activists from Syria’s Alawite community who opposed the regime during the 2011 revolution have since been shunned by their families and social circles, at times even deprived of their housing, land, and property rights.

The issue of women’s inheritance rights does not receive much attention in the Alawite community, yet the problem is becoming clearer among female Alawite activists who oppose the regime. On the contrary, there was no similar cutoff of inheritance rights for Alawite women who had taken part in the opposition Communist Labour Party in the 1970s and 1980s and who subsequently faced persecution and served long prison sentences.

A correspondent for The Syria Report interviewed several Alawite women who had been deprived of their HLP rights due to their political activism. Rula, Rana, and Rima, three sisters from Masyaf in the Hama governorate, illustrate this issue. Rula is an opposition political activist who faced persecution by security forces for her work during the revolution, prompting her to leave Syria in 2013 and seek refuge in Europe. Rana, meanwhile, has never been interested in politics and is uninterested in opposing the regime. Like Rula, Rana left Syria, married, and settled down in Europe. Finally, Rima is not a political activist, but nonetheless went against her family’s wishes by marrying a non-Alawite man. The three sisters also have several brothers.

As with many Alawite families, inheritance goes to the sons. However, Rula, Rana, and Rima inherited land from their mother, who herself had obtained the land inheritance after a long dispute with her brothers.

The family successfully pressured Rima, who married a non-Alawite, to give up her share of the inheritance to one of her brothers. Rana received her full share without dispute. Rula, on the other hand, ended up the weakest link after her family members owing to her opposition political views. The family began pressuring her to sell her share of the land to one of her brothers for a meagre price.

Despite Rula’s refusal to give up her share, her brother began investing in the land on his own amid increasing family pressure. The family also recently received a visit from the Political Security branch in Masyaf. Officers asked them about Rula and her opposition activities, as well as her property ownership inside Syria. Family members subsequently feared that the state could seize Rula’s property. They considered Rula’s brother more deserving of the land than Rula, whom they saw as having caused them trouble.

Samira, an Alawite opposition activist from rural Jableh, also faced harassment. Her family members, as well as the residents of her small village, bullied her because of her political views. Samira fled the village for Damascus, where she was arrested. When she was released from detention, she returned to her village, where the residents threw stones at her.

Samira, whose father owns large parcels of land and property, was deprived of everything and later forced to leave Syria. In one recent phone conversation, she asked her brother about her share of the inheritance. He responded: “Instead of asking for your share, you should pay for the shame you’ve caused us.”