With her chick yellow jacket, her piercings and her tattoos, Maribelle Haddad, 27, knows that she stands out in the landscape of the conservative city of Aleppo, in north-west Syria. Sitting on a large sofa at the Al-Manzel hookah café on Sunday, December 22, the young woman holds out her phone and presses the button for a voice message: “If you persist in wanting to do as in Damascus [où une manifestation pour les droits des femmes a eu lieu le 19 décembre]I cut off your head »calmly affirms a certain Mohamed.
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For this young woman who transformed her Facebook page into a boxing ring and responded with indifference to the invective, few messages could have pushed her to abandon the demonstration for the defense of women's rights launched with her friends and which was to be held on December 21 in Aleppo. This time, however, Maribelle, from a Christian family at odds with its community, had to give in. “This man presented himself as a former jihadist. We know that some members of these factions have already beheaded people,” she continues, pulling nervously on the sleeves of her wool sweater. The demonstration was canceled.
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