Lifting the Veil With Souad Mekhennet: Bahrain’s Iron Lady

Sameera Rajab is everything in person that you wouldn’t expect from an official government spokesperson in a Gulf country: she’s a woman, a mother of three girls, a Shiite, and the first cousin of Nabeel Rajab, one of the main opposition leaders against the system that she represents.

"He is my cousin from my mother’s and father’s side; that is very close," she says.

The last few days have been among the most challenging for Rajab. This week, in a PR nightmare for the Bahraini government, an American citizen who had worked officially as an early childhood teacher in Bahrain was caught working illegally as a journalist for outlets that belong to Hezbollah, which is considered a terrorist organization by the state. Security authorities said they had also found a Hezbollah flag hanging in the woman’s apartment. She was asked to leave the country.

We invite you to read the full article published August 19, 2013