Foundation for Defense of Democracies

Ammar Abdulhamid is a leading Syrian human rights and pro-democracy activist and author. An FDD fellow and member of FDD’s Syria Working Group, Mr. Abdulhamid is also the founder and director of the Tharwa Foundation, a grassroots organization that works to break the Assad government’s information blockade by enlisting a cadre of local activists and citizen journalists to report on sociopolitical issues in Syria. The activities of the Tharwa team in Syria have served to galvanize grassroots support and generate enthusiasm for change even as the Syrian government continues its crackdown against its opponents.

Ammar Abdulhamid is a leading Syrian human rights and pro-democracy activist and author. An FDD fellow and member of FDD’s Syria Working Group, Mr. Abdulhamid is also the founder and director of the Tharwa Foundation, a grassroots organization that works to break the Assad government’s information blockade by enlisting a cadre of local activists and citizen journalists to report on sociopolitical issues in Syria. The activities of the Tharwa team in Syria have served to galvanize grassroots support and generate enthusiasm for change even as the Syrian government continues its crackdown against its opponents.

As a result of his activities and writings, the New York Times recognized Mr. Abdulhamid as “one of the important voices articulating the rising generation’s disenchantment” with the current Syrian Regime, while Newsweek magazine named him as one of the "most influential personalities" in the contemporary Arab World.

Mr. Abdulhamid has briefed the President of the United States, testified in front of the U.S. Congress and appears often as an expert commentator in various news media.

Prior to founding the Tharwa Foundation, Mr. Abdulhamid served as a fellow with the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institute, and he was a co-founder of Hands Across the Mideast Support Alliance (HAMSA), an initiative to mobilize international grassroots support for democracy activists in the Middle East.

In 2003, Mr. Abdulhamid, in partnership with his wife, Khawla Yusuf, herself an activist, established DarEmar, an independent publishing house dedicated to raising the standards of civic awareness in the Arab World. Together, Mr. Abdulhamid and Ms. Yusuf gathered a following as leading dissidents and advocates for the rights of the disenfranchised and minorities. In September of 2005, in response to their vocal criticism and increasing influence and visibility, the Syrian government forced Mr. Abdulhamid and Ms. Yusuf into exile. They now live in Maryland, along with their two children.