Faridah Boubakeur

(1968 - )

Position: General Counsel to the New League of Heroes

Quote

"Sir, I have spent my life fighting against real evil: brutal misogynists, ruthless dictators, religious fanatics, and perpetrators of genocide. If you believe a mask and a cape will frighten me, you are mistaken."

Background

Faridah Boubakeur was born in Algeria to Arab parents, both of whom were intelectuals who had been active in Algeria's struggle for independence from France. Boubaker had a happy childhood and was an exceptional student, receiving a scholarship to study political science at a prestigious university in Algiers.

In 1990, Boubakeur left Algeria for the United States, specializing in international law at Harvard Law School. Just as she was completing her first year of studies, a civil war broke out in Algeria between the national government and various Islamist groups.

After completing her degree, Boubakeur received several lucrative offers from American law firms. A family tragedy, however, required her to return home. She learned that one of her younger sisters had been shot to death by a bearded man while waiting for a bus. Fueled by grief and rage, and determined to learn the truth, Boubakeur gathered as much information as she could about her sister's murder.

Boubakeur learned that one week before she was killed, her sister, a high school teacher, had given a television interview regarding Islamist graffitti in her school. The graffitti threatened death to female students who did not wear headscarfs. Boubakeur's sister, who herself wore Western clothes, condemned the graffitti and called the perpetrators cowards for threatening her students. Others confirmed what Boubakeur suspected; her sister's killer was a member of an Islamic extremist group.

Boubakeur's life and work now took on a new passion and direction. She joined with a women's rights group in Algiers and used her legal skills to work against the GIA, Islamic Salvation Front, and other Islamist groups who sought to legislate or otherwise impose restrictions on the rights of Algerian women.

Despite numerous threats on her life, she continued this work for four years. One evening, leaving work after a long night at her office, she was approached by a strange man on the street who stabbed her several times. A bystander called an ambulance and she narrowly survived her wounds. In response to pleas from her family and co-workers, Boubakeur decided to leave the country.

In 1998, she secured a position as a staff attorney with the London office of Human Rights Watch. For four years, whe worked on human rights campaigns for HRW, especially in the Middle East.

In 2002, she moved to the Netherlands after being offered a position as an investigator for the prosecutor’s office of the International Criminal Court. Her work took her to Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and, finally, to Guineau. In Guineau, Boubakeur gathered information about the atrocities committed by the Koroma (aka Warlord) regime in Sierra Leone by interviewing refugees.

In 2006, Boubakeur violated an ICC nondisclosure order and revealed to the New Champions that Koroma (Warlord) had been secretely indicted by the ICC for war crimes (see Episode 12). She also used her UN and other contacts to arrange passage for the team to Freetown in hopes that they could capture Koroma and deliver him to UN troops stationed in Guineau.

Ultimately, the team failed in its mission and Boubakeur's violation was discovered by her superiors in the ICC. She allowed to resign at the end of 2006.

Shortly after her resignation, Thunderstrike, who had befriended Boubakeur years before when the invincibles pursued a VIPER plot to DRC, offered Boubakeur a position as general counsel to the New League of Heroes.

Skills / Talents

Languages: Algerian Arabic, Standard Arabic, French, English

Personality