Imagine being the country’s fastest female sprinter and one of its most celebrated athletes, and being interrogated at the airport by a security officer and questioned over the validity of your Lebanese passport. That’s what happened to Aziza Sbaity in 2018 on her way back to Beirut from the 2018 Arab Championship.

In an interview with Daraj, Aziza who is Lebanon’s only black female athlete, describes her encounter with the female security officer at Beirut’s airport and sheds light on the entrenched racism in our society and the need to abolish archaic laws like the Kafaka one.

Aziza has most recently won Lebanon’s only gold medal at the 2023 Arab Championship.