{"podcast":{"title":"Lives Less Ordinary","slug":"lives-less-ordinary-162239","podcast_index_feed_id":162239,"rss_url":"https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02s5rx7.rss","website_url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02s5rx7","image_url":"http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/3000x3000/p0ltmjjg.jpg","author":"BBC","episode_count":226,"summary":"Have you ever locked eyes with a stranger and wondered, \"What’s their story?\" Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. Extraordinary stories from around the world.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-15T08:17:08.374225+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/lives-less-ordinary-162239"},"episode":{"title":"Sects, lies and videotape: a Syrian story, part 2","slug":"sects-lies-and-videotape-a-syrian-story-part-2","published_at":"2026-03-02T01:30:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/lives-less-ordinary-162239/sects-lies-and-videotape-a-syrian-story-part-2","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/lives-less-ordinary-162239","url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0n2xr81","audio_url":"http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss-low/proto/http/vpid/p0n2xm3b.mp3","summary":"While filming in rebel-held Syria, Loubna Mrie is falsely accused of being a spy – an accusation that spirals into a life-threatening ordeal, triggering the deepest loss of her life. In 2011, Loubna Mrie broke from her loyalist family to join Syria’s underground network of activists. She used her Alawite identity – the same minority sect as the ruling Assads – to move through checkpoints and secretly film anti-government protests, even as it put her in conflict with her powerful father and the regime that had shaped her childhood. But Loubna’s Alawite background made her a target for both sides. While filming in a rebel-held village, a local commander falsely accused her of being “an Alawite spy” and planned to execute her. Rescued at the last moment by a fellow activist, Loubna fled Syria – uploading a video declaring her support for the uprising before crossing into Turkey. What followed was a shattering personal loss. From exile, Loubna struggled with grief, guilt and addiction. She lost friends and a partner to the war, survived alone in a new country, and eventually entered rehab – where she learned that Bashar al-Assad had finally fallen from power in Syria. For Loubna, the news was not a triumph but a painful reckoning: the end had come far too late for so many she loved. Loubna’s written a book called Defiance: A Memoir of Awakening, Rebellion, and Survival in Syria. Loubna shares her story over two episodes. In the previous episode, she described her journey from a loyalist upbringing to becoming one of the unlikely young revolutionaries who documented Syria’s civil war. In part two, the same identity that once protected her puts her in danger. Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: Maryam Maruf Editor: Munazza Khan Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World…","meta_description":"While filming in rebel-held Syria, Loubna Mrie is falsely accused of being a spy – an accusation that spirals into a life-threatening ordeal, triggering t…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2556,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/lives-less-ordinary-162239/episodes/sects-lies-and-videotape-a-syrian-story-part-2/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/lives-less-ordinary-162239/sects-lies-and-videotape-a-syrian-story-part-2.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}