Egyptian Feminist Receives Death Threats, The Truth Behind Her Bold Statement To ISIS
After uploading a controversial picture on her Facebook account, Egyptian feminist Aliaa Magda Elmahdy is reportedly receiving a number of death threats. Elmahdy recently made a lot of buzz when she posted a picture of herself naked while bleeding on the IS flag, while another unidentified woman is defecating on it.
With the message "Inshallah [Allah willing], your throat got slit in the street, within days," the threat was all over her Facebook account and some even posted threats on her Twitter account. The 23-year-old blogger is a well-known Egyptian activist and her latest stunt appears to be a protest against the Islamic terrorist group who recently made a bold statement by beheading an American journalist and posted the video on Facebook.
Now making a lot chaos in northern Iraq and Syria, the terrorist group is known for using social media to have their message known to the world, and this is what Elmahdy is trying to do. She raised the stakes against the ISIS group when she posted her nude picture on Saturday, Aug. 23, and was removed from the site due to explicit content.
Many are still wondering the reason why Aliaa posted the nude picture of her and the IS flag but fellow activist Inna Shevchenko speaks up the reason behind the controversial photo. A founder of the feminist group FEMEN, the Ukranian activist told Paris Match during her latest interview that they are "not afraid of being criticized" and finds it "hypocritical" for others to call Aliaa's image violent as compared to the Islamic group's violent actions towards women.
Still refusing to talk to the media, Shevchenko answered a few questions from VICE News when she asked about their intention to post the image on social media. A member of FEMEN since 2012, Elmahdy and the feminist group are supporting each other to have their message on issues especially on religion spread out across the Arab world.
"With the picture we want to criticize the killings, rapes, and public executions by Islamic fascists, who are breaking news," revealed the FEMEN founder. "This is what the Islamic State wants. They want the world to obey their ideas. Spreading their video messages of executions and sharing their speeches, we do a good job for them, we serve the Islamic State. Instead we should spread our message to them. Enough of tolerance! Don't be scared to offend. Let's hit them back with our answers, instead of giving them more space. The world is in fear, exactly as the Islamic State wants. We call not to fear them, but to resist them."
Read more: Egyptian Feminist Sends a Bold Message to ISIS as she Poses Nude and Bleeds on Islamic State Flag