Rami Abdulrahman was born in the coastal city of
Baniyas and followed a
leftist political path similar to that of his father. He was imprisoned several times because of his political activism during the rule of
Hafez al-Assad. He later emigrated to the United Kingdom in 2000 and settled in
Coventry. Among his earliest activities in exile was organizing demonstrations in front of the
Syrian embassy in London in 2003, before founding the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in May 2006. Since the outbreak of the
Syrian revolution, the Observatory has worked to document violations against civilians by all parties to the conflict. Abdulrahman received death threats as a result of this work, most notably from
ISIS. He has also been accused by various sources in the
Middle East of receiving foreign funding, but he stated that the organization is funded by European institutions. Following the
Fall of the Assad regime, he worked on documenting
crimes against minorities in Syria’s coastal region. He was accused of belonging to the
Alawite sect, but he stated that he belongs to the
Sunni sect. == Awards ==