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Speaker 1: Hey, this is a name and Samantha, and welcome to Stefan.

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Speaker 1: Never told you a protection of iHeart Radio.

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Speaker 2: And today's feminist around the world. Yes, we're here. We

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Speaker 2: are talking about feminist political activists an engineer. I feel

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Speaker 2: like that's important to add because she is an engineer,

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Speaker 2: Amara Asman Ahmed. And of course I'm just gonna put

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Speaker 2: that caveat or doing our best with pronunciations. If you

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Speaker 2: have a correction, please let us know and we'll give

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Speaker 2: you information on how to do that later. Huh. Yes,

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Speaker 2: And I will say most of the articles that we read,

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Speaker 2: they reference her as Amera Osman. So Ahmed is not

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Speaker 2: often used, but we are going to reference her as

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Speaker 2: Hahmed because that's how I found her. Just with that

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Speaker 2: as well. So Ahmed is a Sudanese women's rights activist

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Speaker 2: and has been under scrutiny under the current and previous

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Speaker 2: regime for her stance on women's rights and just in

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Speaker 2: our activism. In twenty twenty two, she was arrested in

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Speaker 2: detained for her activism, but was released later. She is

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Speaker 2: still subjected to prosecution by the government, according to different reports.

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Speaker 2: I'm not exactly sure as to what and I will

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Speaker 2: say most of the reports and information we've gotten are

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Speaker 2: from twenty twenty two or earlier, so I'm not really

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Speaker 2: sure where she's at today. I think that needs to

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Speaker 2: be said. We know there's a big war happening and

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Speaker 2: a lot of dangerous situations, especially for a lot of

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Speaker 2: the activists there, which is also while we're talking about them.

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Speaker 2: So if someone on here may know more information or

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Speaker 2: more updated information, please let us know. But we don't

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Speaker 2: want that to stop us from celebrating what she's already done. So.

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Speaker 2: She was born in nineteen seventy six and studied computer engineering,

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Speaker 2: and her activism began at an early age. In an

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Speaker 2: interview with a Nobel's Women's Initiative, she talks about her

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Speaker 2: time in high schoo and her refusing to follow something

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Speaker 2: that she didn't believe in, and how she felt supported

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Speaker 2: by her mother and her family. She talked about knowing

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Speaker 2: she couldn't let herself be forced by others, and she

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Speaker 2: said this, looking back at it, if I did, I

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Speaker 2: would have been broken for the rest of my life.

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Speaker 1: The article continues on. It was nineteen ninety two in

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Speaker 1: Sudan under the authoritarian regime of Omar al Bashir, though

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Speaker 1: she had joined the Democratic Front at school, Amara was

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Speaker 1: more interested in sports than activism until that night, A

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Speaker 1: snowball of anger was born inside me. That anger has

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Speaker 1: spurred Amera for three decades to campaign against authoritarian and

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Speaker 1: military rule, for democracy, freedom of speech and assembly, and

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Speaker 1: to challenge patriarchal laws in Sudan that denied dignity and

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Speaker 1: restrict women's freedom.

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Speaker 2: And again, with all of this, she has had the

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Speaker 2: support of her family. She talked about her mother's support

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Speaker 2: for her involvement with different protests. She said, whenever I

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Speaker 2: went out in a protest, my mother always used to

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Speaker 2: tell me, don't let them terrify you. Don't let the

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Speaker 2: military in Alkaizan or Islamist terrify. You stay together. You're

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Speaker 2: stronger when you're together. I miss her so much, and

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Speaker 2: with those words, Osmond has actively been fighting for equal

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Speaker 2: rights in her country for decades. In two thousand and two,

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Speaker 2: she was arrested for daring to wear pants. Then later

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Speaker 2: in twenty thirteen, she was detained for refusing to wear

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Speaker 2: a headscarf. I believe she also was again arrested in

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty for wearing pants, and then once again for

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Speaker 2: refusing to wear a headscarf, and she has repeatedly been arrested,

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Speaker 2: threatened and detained and she is disabled. Believe her back

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Speaker 2: and even during this time they still mistreated her and

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Speaker 2: abuse her. She has gone on hunger strikes and protest

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Speaker 2: and called on the world to see what was happening

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Speaker 2: to her community.

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Speaker 1: And in two thousand and nine, she with a group

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Speaker 1: of Sudanese people started the No to Oppression against Women's Initiatives.

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Speaker 1: Here's some information from Peaceinsight dot org. Note to Women's

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Speaker 1: Oppression Initiative was established in two thousand and nine in

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Speaker 1: the aftermath of increased police and security harassment against women

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Speaker 1: in Sudan. In particular, the initiative was sparked by the

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Speaker 1: incident of police forces arresting Sudanese female journalists Lovna Hussein

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Speaker 1: for wearing trousers and accusing her of a violation of

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Speaker 1: the Sharia based Public Order Act. In response to that

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Speaker 1: incident and several other women rights violations, women activists in

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Speaker 1: Sudan organized to fight against the public Order law and

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Speaker 1: unlawful abuses against women in Sudan. The Note to Women's

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Speaker 1: Oppression Initiative was formed to advance cooperation and solidarity through

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Speaker 1: collective response to violations of women's rights in Sudan and

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Speaker 1: fight all kinds of abuse facing women because of their

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Speaker 1: gender right.

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Speaker 2: And it should be noted that during this time women

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Speaker 2: were being flogged for violating these laws. Amara herself was

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Speaker 2: threatened with being flogged for refusing to wear a headscar.

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Speaker 2: I believe the human rights organization actually stepped in to

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Speaker 2: prevent that from happening because there was a huge outcry

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Speaker 2: around the world when they found out about the sentencing.

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Speaker 2: But it still occurs, and so that same sitepiece, Insight

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Speaker 2: dot org continues on their team monitors the women's human

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Speaker 2: rights violations in the country, particularly the incidents of public order,

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Speaker 2: law based police violence, violations of rights in Sudan's conflict regions,

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Speaker 2: and other unlawful violations against women. They take immediate actions

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Speaker 2: supporting and standing with victims of incidents, supported through our monitors,

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Speaker 2: and this is about that. Organization continues on the initiative

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Speaker 2: organizers advocacy campaigns, supporting victims through protests during the court hearings,

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Speaker 2: press releases and reports. They also conduct outreach and workshop

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Speaker 2: empowering women to exercise their right and resist the unjust

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Speaker 2: laws They provide volunteer lawyers to present victims in court

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Speaker 2: and support their cases. They also conduct fundraising with their

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Speaker 2: network to provide any Nagel requirements to certain cases. They

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Speaker 2: also visit prisons and monitor the situation of women, particularly

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Speaker 2: the victims of public or law, such as local alcohol

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Speaker 2: brewers and tea sellers.

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Speaker 1: And with all of her amazing work, she still talks

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Speaker 1: about solidarity and kindness. She is quoted as saying when

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Speaker 1: the accident happened, I was paralyzed in my bed. The

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Speaker 1: love and the solidarity that I felt during this period

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Speaker 1: of my life from my friends and family and even

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Speaker 1: people who I didn't know, is heartwarming and showed me

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Speaker 1: what the Sudanese people are made of. I remember on

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Speaker 1: a rainy morning, a distant relative of mine who I

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Speaker 1: had never met, came from a different city. He said

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Speaker 1: he wanted to pray al Fayr and apologies if I

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Speaker 1: got that wrong, just let me know in our home,

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Speaker 1: because it's a blessed time and the prayers are answered.

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Speaker 1: I will never forget this. This is what keeps me

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Speaker 1: going and motivated. The Sudanese people deserve to live with

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Speaker 1: dignity and freedom in twenty twenty two, she was awarded

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Speaker 1: the Frontline Defender's Award for Human rights Defenders at Risk

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Speaker 1: and here's what they wrote about her, her and their release. Nevertheless,

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Speaker 1: Amara never deterred from her mission and actively participated in

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Speaker 1: peaceful demonstrations disregarding her personal safety to stand at the

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Speaker 1: helm and bring forward such progression right.

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Speaker 2: And we want to end with her own words for solidarity,

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Speaker 2: she says, let us unite for our rights, for our dignity,

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Speaker 2: for our free will, for a peaceful world. Let us

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Speaker 2: unite to defend our causes all over the world, to

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Speaker 2: condemn the violence against women under the name of customs,

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Speaker 2: traditions and religion. Let's make our main course of action

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Speaker 2: so that every human can live with honor and dignity.

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Speaker 2: And again, we don't have a lot of updates necessarily.

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Speaker 2: I do know that the organization tried to hold the

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Speaker 2: protest but was stopped by the government and regime in

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Speaker 2: August of this year. There's a lot happening. There's a

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Speaker 2: lot happening all over the world, and we definitely want

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Speaker 2: to keep looking and talking about the people who have

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Speaker 2: been working so hard and so desperately to create equality

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Speaker 2: honestly just safety for themselves and their people. So again

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Speaker 2: with all of this, if you have people we should

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Speaker 2: highlight or information, or if you have someone that you

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Speaker 2: want to write about, wonderful and we can read it

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Speaker 2: for you even better because it is that's a lot

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Speaker 2: of stuff going on and to try to find the

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Speaker 2: best information, the most update information can be difficult as

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Speaker 2: they are in a difficult situation.

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Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, and yes, if you would like to contact

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Speaker 1: us about any of that, you can. You can email

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Speaker 1: us at Stephania Momstuff at iHeartMedia dot com. You can

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Speaker 1: find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast, or on

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Speaker 1: Instagram and TikTok at Stephan Never Told You. We have

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Speaker 1: a tea public store and we have a book that

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Speaker 1: you can get wherever you get your books. Thanks as

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Speaker 1: always too, our super producer Christina, our executive producer Maya,

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Speaker 1: and your contributor Joey. Thank you and thanks to you

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Speaker 1: for listening. Steffan Never Told You is production, but iHeartRadio.

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