"It’s all about forgiveness. I don’t want any mother to lose her son anymore, no sister to lose her brother, no daughter to lose her father and no wife to lose her husband. Only if we forgive each other we’ll be able to reconcile with each other and rebuild our country."
At the time the portrait was taken Fadwa was 63 years old. She has been political and civil rights activist in the Syrian Communist Labour Party since 1982. Fadwa was detained under the regime of Hafiz Al Assad for two years during the 1990s. Her son, Maher al-Tahan, who was accompanied by her husband Dr. Abdel-Aziz Al-Khair and Professor Ayas Ayyash, disappeared at Damascus International Airport on September 20, 2012. Fadwa is one of the founders of Families for Freedom and the Freedom Bus Initiative advocating for detainees, missing persons and forcibly disappeared persons. She is a member of the Syrian Women’s Initiative for Peace and Democracy and consultant for the High Negotiations Committee in Geneva.