• Dr Fida Al-HoraniName:
• President of the National CouncilPosition:
• HamaPlace of Birth:

Professional Experience

Fida Horani is the elected President of the National Council of the Damascus Declaration. She is the daughter of a former Syrian vice-president and is a long-time political activist. She is also an experienced gynocologist who, with her husband Dr. Gazi Alian, set up the charitable Horani Hospital in her native town of Hama. She has one son and one grand son.

Fida Horani had previously served in the general secretariat of the Arab National Congress. She has authored several books and studies on public affairs, the most recent being a comparative study of constitutional systems in Syria since the early 1950s until the 1970s. She was diagnosed with abdominal cancer in 1996 and she still suffers from its effects.

She was arrested on 16 December 2007 after participating in the first meeting of the National Council of the Damascus Declaration where she was elected President. Soon after her husband, who is a Palestinian, was arrested and deported after his residency permit was suddenly revoked.

Fida Horani's election to the Presidency of the National Council of the Damascus Declaration represents a giant step for women's political rights in Syria. She not only has she broken into a traditionally male-dominated sphere of public life, she has done so campaigning for democracy, a cause which she has dedicated her life to serving.