Juliette Elmir (Arabic: جوليات المير سعادة) (c. 1909 – 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.

Juliette Elmir
جوليات المير سعادة
Bornc. 1909
Tripoli, Lebanon
Died24 June 1976
Beirut, Lebanon
Political partySyrian Social Nationalist Party
SpouseAntoun Sa’adeh
Signature

Early life

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Elmir was born in Tripoli in 1909.[1] She emigrated with her family to Argentina as a child, where she trained as a nurse and began training to become a doctor.[2]

Marriage

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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.[2] Their date of marriage is unclear, recorded in various sources as 1940, 1941 or 1943,[3] but they are known to have lived in San Miguel de Tucumán[4] and had three children.[5] Sofia and Elissar were born in Argentina, and Raghida was born in Lebanon.[2]

After World War II and the country's independence from the French Mandate, Elmir and her husband returned to Lebanon in 1947, settling in Dhour Al-Shweir.[6]

Revolution

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Antoun Sa'adeh and Elmir in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1943

In 1949, a revolution was declared against the Lebanese government, which ultimately failed.[7] 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.[7] Elmir and their daughters was held at the Greek Orthodox Our Lady of Saidnaya Monastery,[3][8] where she learned that in less than 24 hours[9] her husband and many of his followers were judged by a Lebanese military court and executed by a firing squad.[7]

 
Elmir in prison, in 1961

Shortly after his death, Elmir was appointed al-Amina al-ula (First Keeper or First Trustee) of the SSNP,[10] and her home became the SSNP's headquarters under the leadership of George Abd Messih.[3] The SSNP allowed women to participate in activism and politics,[11] setting a trend for the social norms for women in politics in the Levant.[2]

Imprisonment

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Elmir became the first woman political prisoner in the Arab World, post Sykes-Picot Syria and the partitioning of the region.[11] In 1955, she was accused of being involved in the assassination of the deputy chief of staff of the Syrian Army, Adnan al-Malki.[12] Her property and belongings were confiscated and she was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Qala’a Dimashq (Citadel of Damascus).[13] She was imprisoned for over ten years,[8] but was released on 26 December 1963 on health grounds.[13] She went into exile for a time in Paris, France.[2] She lived there with her her middle daughter Elissar.[5]

Death and legacy

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She died in 1976 in Beirut.[13][14] Her memoirs were posthumously published in 2004 and have been translated by Mazen Naous, Professor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.[11]

References

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  1. ^ Leidy, Joseph (2023). "El Zaím: Youth, Authority, and Syrian Nationalism in the Mahjar, 1938-1944". Mashriq & Mahjar: Journal of Middle East and North African Migration Studies. 10 (1): 79–106. ISSN 2169-4435.
  2. ^ a b c d e Solomon, Christopher (24 August 2018). "Juliette El-Mir Saadeh: Gender politics and women in armed conflict in Syria". Medium. Archived from the original on 5 September 2023. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  3. ^ a b c Solomon, Christopher (12 June 2018). "Juliette El-Mir Saadeh: Gender politics and women in armed conflict in Syria". Groupe Gaulliste Sceaux (in French). Retrieved 11 March 2025.
  4. ^ "إلى وكيل منفّذ منفذية الشاطىء الذهبي". Saadeh Foundation (in Arabic). Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  5. ^ a b Ghandour, Amal (12 March 2023). "Juliette Elmir Sa'adeh and Her Syrian Dreams and Nightmares Part 1". This Arab Life. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  6. ^ "Mundo Árabe - jueves 7 julio 1955 - Mundo Árabe". www.mundoarabe.cl. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  7. ^ a b c Johnson, Michael (2001). All honourable men : the social origins of war in Lebanon. London : Centre for Lebanese Studies in association with I.B. Tauris. p. 150. ISBN 978-1-86064-715-4.
  8. ^ a b Pastor, Camila (6 December 2017). The Mexican Mahjar: Transnational Maronites, Jews, and Arabs under the French Mandate. University of Texas Press. p. 187. ISBN 978-1-4773-1462-3.
  9. ^ Armanazi, Ghayth (2013). "The Arab Poet Laureate: An Appreciation of Adonis". The London Magazine. Archived from the original on 20 June 2013. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  10. ^ Caroz, Yaakov (1978). The Arab Secret Service[s]. Corgi. p. 325. ISBN 978-0-552-10932-1.
  11. ^ a b c "Memoirs of Juliette Elmir Sa'adeh". Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI). Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  12. ^ Moubayed, Sami M. (2000). Damascus between democracy and dictatorship. University Press of America. pp. 138–139. ISBN 978-0-7618-1744-4.
  13. ^ a b c Solomon, Christopher (23 September 2021). In Search of Greater Syria: The History and Politics of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. xvi. ISBN 978-1-83860-643-5.
  14. ^ "On June 24, 1976, Secretary Juliette Elmir Saade passed away". Arabic newspaper -Profile News. 24 June 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2025.