Sonita Alizadeh

Sonita Alizadeh performs at the 2016 International Women of Courage forum at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C.

Sonita Alizadeh (; born 11 November 1996) is an Afghan rapper and activist who has been vocal against forced marriages. Alizadeh first gained attention when she released "Brides for Sale," a video in which she raps about daughters being sold into marriage by their families. With the help of Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami, an Iranian documentary filmmaker who over three years documented her story in the film Sonita, Alizadeh filmed the video to escape a marriage her parents were planning for her, even though it is illegal for women to sing solo in Iran, where she was living at the time. After releasing the video on YouTube, Alizadeh was contacted by the Strongheart Group, which offered her a student visa and financial help to come and study in the United States, where she then relocated and has resided since. In 2015, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.

Biography Early life

Alizadeh grew up in Herat, Afghanistan, under the rule of the Taliban. Her family first considered selling her as a bride when she was 10. Alizadeh has said that at the time, she did not fully understand what that meant. Instead, her family fled to Iran to escape the Taliban. In Iran, Alizadeh worked by cleaning bathrooms, while she taught herself to read and write. During this time, she also discovered the music of Iranian rapper Yas and American rapper Eminem. Inspired by their music, she started writing her own songs. In 2014, Alizadeh entered a U.S. competition to write a song to get Afghan people to vote in their elections. She won a $1,000 prize, which Alizadeh sent to her mother, who had moved back to Afghanistan. In 2022, she was awarded a 2023 Rhodes Scholarship.

In popular media A documentary, called Sonita, premiered at the International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam in November 2015. The film was entered into the Sundance Film Festival and won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for a documentary film. The film also showed at the Seattle International Film Festival in 2016, and Seattle alt-weekly The Stranger designated it a "don't miss" feature.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes 2015 Sonita Self Documentary2016 Sundance Film Festival-World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary-World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary

Awards 2017: Asia Game Changer Awards 2018: MTV Europe Music Awards- Generation Change Award 2021: Freedom Prize 2021: Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards Six Core Principle Winner for Conviction