SYRIA: Algerian nationalist Jamile Bouhired awarded the "Syrian Order of Merit of Excellent Degree"

Record ID: 278547

  • Title: SYRIA: Algerian nationalist Jamile Bouhired awarded the "Syrian Order of Merit of Excellent Degree"
  • Date: 29th January 2009
  • Summary: BOUHIRED POSING FOR PHOTOS WITH STUDENTS
  • Embargoed: 13th February 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVA7P0Z6N3K01J613ZEZH9W99RI7
  • Story Text: Algerian nationalist Jamila Bouhired is awarded the "Syrian Order of Merit of Excellent Degree" on her visit to Damascus.
    Algerian nationalist Jamile Bouhired toured Damascus on Wednesday (January 28), a day after she received the "Syrian Order of Merit of Excellent Degree" from Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
    Bouhired first visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier where she laid a wreath. The tomb is dedicated to unidentified Syrian soldiers killed in battle and is visited by the Syrian president Martyrs Day (May 6) each year.
    Martyrs Day is a Syrian and Lebanese national holiday commemorating the Syrian and Lebanese nationalists executed in Damascus and Beirut on May 6, 1916 by the Turks.
    Later Bouhired met with the students of the Martyrs' Daughters School, who were visibly touched by her visit as she hugged and cried with them.
    Bouhired expressed her sympathy for the people of Gaza, recent victims of a 22-day confrontation between Hamas and Israel.

    "I am sad about the martyrs who have been killed in the war, the resistance. I think that crying over martyrs is not a sign of weakness because these tears strengthen the Arab man and makes him feel better. It is a symbol of love. When I meet a martyr's daughter or sister and they cry I can only cry with them," she said.
    On Tuesday (January 27) Syrian president Bashar al-Assad presented Bouhired with the "Syrian Order of Merit of Excellent Degree" in recognition of her honourable participation in the struggle for Algeria's independence during the French occupation.
    This was the subject of a film by acclaimed Egyptian director Youssef Chahine, Jamila the Algerian in 1958.
    Bouhired was a member of the Algerian Liberation Front, fought against French occupation and became the most wanted woman before her arrest in 1957.
    She was released in 1962, following the independence of Algeria.
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