A picture of a Sudanese woman standing on a car and singing a revolution songs as fellow protesters were chanting “Revolution” has turned the attention of the international media towards the anti-government uprising in Sudan a few weeks ago.
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Later identified as 22-year-old Alaa Salah, the woman was dubbed as the “Nubian Queen” and the Sudanese “Statue of Liberty." She was interviewed by western media outlets with her picture circulating worldwide social media and the internet.
However, Salah has later announced receiving death threats from extremists in Sudan who threatened her with her life for standing up in protests.
Meanwhile, rumors of Alaa Salah getting married to a soldier have gone viral on social media splitting opinions between supporters and others criticizing the young woman who became an icon of the revolution.
A Russian-government funded news website, Russia Today Arabic, has, at the same time, rushed to circulate Salah’s marriage rumors leading readers to question the aim behind discrediting a revolution icon like Alaa Salah.
هل تعلم عزيزي المغرد/عزيزتي المغردة أن الإعلام الروسي تحديداً Rt عربي، يكذب عليك في وجهك. وينشر خبراً كاذبا. ومع الخبر الكاذب ينشر فيديو يؤكد كذبه؟ هل تعلم؟ ها؟ pic.twitter.com/BjTFVGUwpd
— layal h (ليال حداد) (@layalhaddad) April 16, 2019
Translation: “Did you know that Russian media outlets, especially RT Arabic, is lying at you in your face by publishing fake news? And along with their story, they publish a video to confirm their lying? Did you know?”
The Russian outlet was widely criticized among Arabic-language readers who accused it of being propaganda for the Russian government that aims at discrediting Alaa Salah and Sudan's revolution.
روسيا اليوم قناة بروباجاندا روسية لا تهتم بالحقيقة . اتمنى ان يتكلموا عن الصحفيين الذين قتلوا واختفوا في روسيا.
— Ahmad Bassam أحمد (@ahmad_bassam93) April 16, 2019
Translation: “Russia Today is a Russian propaganda channel that does not care about the truth. I wish to see them talking about the journalists who were kidnapped and killed in Russia.”
While Russia’s real stance toward the Sudanese revolution is not clear yet, Moscow has recently recognized the Sudanese military as the new authorities after Omar Bashir.
Alaa Saleh is not the only woman who has attracted attention in Sudan’s protests, yet she had portrayed hundreds of the Sudanese women who stepped up and went to the streets demanding that Bashir leaves.
Several photos and videos were shared on social media of women leading protests, holding banners and resisting the long-ruling president and his authoritarian regime in the recent wave of protests broke out in Sudan. First against the 30-year rule of Omar al-Bashir which began in December but intensified at the weekend, and then against the military rule demanding a civil government.
