Juliette Elmir

Juliette Elmir (Arabic: جوليات المير سعادة) ( – 24 June 1976) was a Lebanese nurse and political activist. She was married to Antoun Sa’adeh, founder of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), and worked for the party. She became the first woman political prisoner in post Sykes-Picot Syria.

Early life Elmir was born in Tripoli in 1909. She emigrated with her family to Argentina as a child, where she trained as a nurse and began training to become a doctor.

Marriage Antoun Sa'adeh, who had secretly founded the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) in 1932, fled to Argentina in 1938 after facing political persecution from French colonial authorities. Elmir met him in 1939 and they began corresponding. but they are known to have lived in San Miguel de Tucumán and had three children. Sofia and Elissar were born in Argentina, and Raghida was born in Lebanon.

Revolution

In 1949, a revolution was declared against the Lebanese government, which ultimately failed. Elmir and her family fled to Syria, whose president Husni al-Za'im had agreed to meet them. However, al-Za'im handed them over to the Lebanese authorities. where she learned that in less than 24 hours her husband and many of his followers were judged by a Lebanese military court and executed by a firing squad. and her home became the SSNP's headquarters under the leadership of George Abd Messih. setting a trend for the social norms for women in politics in the Levant. Her property and belongings were confiscated and she was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Qala’at Dimashq (Citadel of Damascus). She was imprisoned for over ten years, Her memoirs were posthumously published in 2004 and have been translated by Mazen Naous, Professor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.