Marie Catherine Colvin (January 12, 1956 – February 22, 2012) was an American journalist who worked as a foreign affairs correspondent[1] for the British newspaper The Sunday Times from 1985 until her death.

[2] On February 22, 2012, while she was covering the siege of Homs alongside the French photojournalist Rémi Ochlik, the pair were killed in a targeted attack by Syrian government forces.

In a verdict issued in 2019, the Columbia District Court found the Assad regime guilty of "extrajudicial killing", terming it as an "unconscionable crime" deliberately committed by the government, and mandated Syria to pay Colvin's family $302 million in compensation for the damages.

[5] Marie Colvin was born in Astoria, Queens, New York, and grew up in East Norwich in the town of Oyster Bay, Nassau County, on Long Island.

Her father, William J. Colvin, was a Marine Corps veteran of WWII and an English teacher in New York City public schools.

[10] Colvin worked briefly for a labor union in New York City, before starting her journalism career with United Press International (UPI), a year after graduating from Yale.

[13] Gaddafi said in this interview that he was at home when U.S. planes bombed Tripoli in April 1986, and that he helped rescue his wife and children while "the house was coming down around us".

In May 1988, Colvin made an extended appearance on the Channel 4 discussion programme After Dark, alongside Anton Shammas, Gerald Kaufman, Moshe Amirav, Nadia Hijab and others.

[24] She had walked over 30 miles (48 km) through the Vanni jungle with her Tamil guides to evade government troops; she reported on the humanitarian disaster in the northern Tamil region, including a government blockade of food, medical supplies and prevention of foreign journalist access to the area for six years to cover the war.

The director of Government information, Ariya Rubasinghe, stated that: "Journalists can go, we have not debarred them, but they must be fully aware of and accept the risk to their lives.

[14][27] Colvin noted the importance of shining a light on "humanity in extremes, pushed to the unendurable", stating: "My job is to bear witness.

She also married a Bolivian journalist, Juan Carlos Gumucio, a correspondent for the Spanish newspaper El País in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War.

"[30] Colvin made her last broadcast on the evening of February 21, appearing on the BBC, Channel 4, CNN and ITN News via satellite phone.

She described "merciless" shelling and sniper attacks against civilian buildings and people on the streets of Homs by Syrian forces, expressing immense shock at the utter disregard of the government troops for the lives of the city residents.

[36] An autopsy conducted in Damascus by the Syrian government claimed that Colvin was killed by an "improvised explosive device filled with nails".

[38] Journalist Jean-Pierre Perrin and other sources reported that the building had been targeted by the Syrian Army, identified using satellite phone signals.

[43][44] Colvin's funeral took place in Oyster Bay, New York, on March 12, 2012, in a service attended by 300 mourners, including those who had followed her dispatches, friends and family.

[46] In January 2019, an American court ruled that the Syrian government was liable for Colvin's death and ordered that they pay $300m in punitive damages.

The judgement stated that Colvin was "specifically targeted because of her profession, for the purpose of silencing those reporting on the growing opposition movement in the country.