Hit Syrian blog 'by a hoaxer from city'

A BLOGGER who has become an internet sensation with her tales of the Syrian uprising could in fact be a Edinburgh-based hoaxer, it has emerged.

Amina Arraf won support for her outspoken criticism of the Syrian regime after she began posting under the name "A Gay Girl in Damascus".

But after a letter claiming to be from her cousin said she had gone missing and had possibly been arrested by the authorities, questions began to be asked about how genuine the blog is.

Reports in the US suggest that Arraf, who claims to have been born there, has been sending e-mails from a computer with an Edinburgh IP address.

One commentator has suggested she may even be a student at Edinburgh University, having previously hinted at plans to study there.

During an interview she gave in April, Arraf wrote: "I've been trying to write a slightly fictionalised autobiography for some time (fictionalised as in other people have their names changed) and when the Arab revolutions began, I realised I wanted to get my voice out there.

"The force of events has meant that my blog is more about events than anything else right now."

However, suspicions were raised earlier this week when photographs supposedly showing Arraf were, in fact, revealed to be taken from the Facebook page of a young London woman, Jelena Lecic. American blogger Paula Brooks said she started communicating with Arraf via e-mail in February but became suspicious about her identity when she saw the Edinburgh IP address.

Arraf reportedly told Brooks she occasionally used proxy web addresses to protect her safety in Syria.

An e-mail that Arraf sent to Brooks in February read: "On another subject, do you have any opinions regarding graduate schools for history/classics/archaeology in the UK?

"I'm applying for Masters' programs (at Edinburgh, St Andrews, Oxford, Cambridge, and Kings) with the intention of doing a PhD afterwards (as I can 'commute' from here for the majority of the time) and wonder if it is a good idea."

Since Arraf's IP address is in Edinburgh, Brooks has suggested that Arraf could have been blogging from Edinburgh University all along.

Arraf also reportedly told Brooks that she was related to Najah Al-Attar, the current vice president of Syria, who attended the university.

US Embassy officials in Syria are said to be urgently trying to establish further details about Arraf.

Edinburgh University said it could neither "confirm nor deny" whether Arraf was studying at the university.