Interpol issues arrest warrant for Syrian singer critical of Assad

A popular Syrian singer, Asala Nasri’s, had her passport returned to her by Lebanese authorities on on Wednesday after they had seized it following the issue of an arrest warrant by the Syrian government.

"I am fine and my dignity is fine," the singer tweeted shortly after her documents were returned to her. "Lebanon you will always be my love."

Nasri, 45, a prominent supporter of her country’s uprising whose songs have rallied against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was flagged by Interpol when she arrived in Beirut on Wednesday to participate in the pan-Arab televised talent show, Star Academy.

The warrant involved accusations by the Syrian government that Nasri was “supporting terrorist groups,” a judicial source told the Lebanese Daily Star newspaper.

Nasri, who was born in Damascus to a middle-class family of musicians, was dubbed the “Singer of the revolution” by Syrian opposition activists after she came out in support on the uprising in 2011.

In a recent track entitled “If only this throne could speak’, Nasri address the Syrian president saying: “Every throne has been smashed, learn your lesson. We were oppressed, and oppression made us learn."

Living in exile in Cairo, Nasri has organised and performed at benefit concerts to raise money for orphans and widows displaced by the conflict.

Syrian celebrities loyal to Damascus have criticised Nasri, calling her ungrateful to the Assad family and demanding that she be stripped of her Syrian nationality.

Nasri is currently working on a collaborative piece with the famous Iraqi oud player Nasir Shama, entitled ‘The People Want’.