Mystery Swirls Around Allegedly Kidnapped Gay Blogger

June 9, 2011— -- It was an alarming message, echoing widespread reports of the recent brutal crackdown taking place across Syria by government forces. "Amina was seized by three men in their early 20's," the blog post read. "One of the men then put his hand over Amina's mouth and they hustled her into a red Dacia Logan..."

It was the first word about the alleged disappearance of a gay Syrian-American woman named Amina Abdallah Araf. Her "A Gay Girl in Damascus" blog had gained notoriety online as an "out Syrian lesbian's thoughts on life, the universe and so on."

But three days after word was posted about Araf's supposed kidnapping on the blog by someone calling herself Araf's cousin, American officials say they have no record of an American by that name and no one appears to have ever seen or spoken to Araf directly.

Articles were written about the eloquent, brave and knowledgeable Araf, but interviewers only communicated with her by e-mail or online chat. Even a Montreal woman with whom Araf had exchanged some 500 emails over six months, had never heard her voice.

"But, seriously, who's writing me?" Sandra Bagaria told NPR from Montreal. "Somebody is writing me and I can assure you it's not me. There's so many Syrian details that I only see someone living there writing about it."

Bagaria, along with many others, had tried to contact Araf by phone or Skype but never connected. One time, Bagaria tried to call the number she'd been given to Araf's house. Araf later wrote that she was out at a café and got an email from Bagaria who was trying to get through. Araf called home to check with her father and was "startled" when her father didn't answer the phone so she called her doorman who said "they came back for you."

Was "Gay Girl in Damascus" Kidnapped or a Hoax?

A dramatic story followed of wandering the Damascus streets, staying with friends, using various techniques to avoid detection. "For now, I've been writing away from where I am and I will be posting things when I am erratically on line," Araf wrote.

Making the story all the more confusing are the many pictures supposedly of Araf, photos of a pretty, brown-haired young woman with a mole above her left eyebrow. A Croatian woman living in London with no ties to Syria says the photos were stolen from her Facebook page.

"That is absolutely my picture taken in the last year in Paris," Jelena Lecic told the BBC Wednesday night. "It was [taken] on my birthday. I don't know how this happened. I was very upset to see my picture."

"I've never met her. I'm not part of her blog. I'm not friends with her,'" Lecic added. "This has put me in danger. This person is a gay activist in Syria. I really don't feel comfortable."

Araf's blog was noticed at the end of April as the regime of President Bashar al-Assad tried to crush the uprising across Syria that has now claimed around 1,300 lives and resulted in arrests many times higher. She wrote well, had a good knowledge of Syria and, most intriguing of all, admitted her homosexuality in a country where to be gay is illegal.

"I am an Arab, I am Syrian, I am a woman, I am queer, I am Muslim, I am binational, I am tall, I am too thin; my sect is Sunni, my clan is Omari, my tribe is Quraysh, my city is Damascus," she wrote in a post.

On Sunday, just a day before the "cousin" wrote about Araf's disappearance, a poem called "Invitation" was posted that started:

"Look long into my wand'ring eyesFollow my gaze cross these dark'ning skiesPlace all your trusts in my handsAnd follow me to other lands"