The Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH) is a local non-profit, non-partisan Lebanese human rights organization in Beirut that was established by the Franco-Lebanese Movement SOLIDA (Support for Lebanese Detained Arbitrarily) in 2006. SOLIDA has been active since 1996 in the struggle against arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and the impunity of those perpetrating gross human violations.

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April 6, 2010

April 6, 2010 - ILoubnan - Lebanese inmates stitch their way out of prison

BEIRUT, By Natacha Yazbeck | AFP

The little White clutch 'Each woman has a story' Stitching their stories onto purses…
Sarah Beydoun From her rank cell in a notorious women's prison in Lebanon, Najwa never dreamed she would one day embroider a bag fit for a queen. And then she saw her handiwork in Vogue magazine. Today, she is an essential part of Sarah's Bag, a Lebanese designer label that blends style with social activism.
The brainchild and namesake of Lebanese entrepreneur Sarah Beydoun, Sarah's Bag employs female convicts and underprivileged women from rural areas to create purses and accessories that have made their way into top fashion stores in London and Paris.

Her funky designs include colorful Andy Warhol-inspired prints of Egyptian diva Um Kalthum and Lebanese singer Sabah, a map of Beirut turned into a clutch and evening purses intricately stitched with Arabic proverbs.

"To me, the story is inseparable from the purse," designer Beydoun told AFP at her office in Beirut's traditional but trendy Gemmayzeh neighbourhood.

“These bags are a link between the most advantaged and the most disadvantaged segments of society.
"In a way, they reflect Lebanon's extremes."

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