REPORT: Samira Soueidan: battle of a Lebanese woman

Samira Soueidan is a Lebanese mother who is seeking to grant her children the Lebanese nationality following the death of her Egyptian husband Abdel Aziz Ahmad more than a decade ago.          

This is the story of Zeina, Faten, Samir and Mohammad who applied to receive the Lebanese nationality and almost had it in 2009. In this context, on the 17th of June 2009, Judge John Qazzi issued a decision allowing these children to have the Lebanese nationality, but the political authority hindered the process and suspended the decision.                   

However, the activities and movements organized by "My Nationality campaign" in order to grant the Lebanese woman the right to give her children the Lebanese nationality did not succeed in their mediation for Samira. The political authority considered Judge Qazzi a guilty who should be punished, so he was transferred in October 2010 from the presidency of the civil court that studies civil personal status issues in Jdeideh to a counselor center in a room of the Court of Cassation.                  

The case of Samira Soueidan and her four children did not end, but clearly shows how the woman in our society still faces discrimination.