Amira Yahyaoui

Background

Yahyaoui was born in Tunis and native of Ksar Hadada as the daughter of the judge Mokhtar Yahyaoui who was dismissed by Ben Ali after writing about the lack of justice in Tunisia. Her cousin Zouhair Yahyaoui was an economist who founded the satirical website TUNeZINE. He died in 2005 after being persecuted and tortured by the government for his objections to censorship in Tunisia.

Career

After being exiled from Tunisia, Yahyaoui fled to France and studied there while protesting against Ben Ali's presidency. She remained stateless for a few years until she obtained a passport to return to Tunisia after Ben Ali was removed from power.

When she returned to Tunisia, Yahyaoui helped organized Nhar 3la 3mmar, a protest against censorship that took place in Tunisia in May 2010. Several months later, Yahyaoui ran in the 2011 Constituent Assembly election as an independent candidate. Due to not receiving a seat in the election, she created the NGO Al Bawsala (translated to "The Compass" in Arabic).

Honors and awards

At the 2012 Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards, Yahyaoui was awarded the Global Trailblazers Award. A few years later, in 2015, she was re-selected to receive a Global Leadership Award.

In 2013 and 2014, Yahyaoui appeared on African Business's list of the most powerful Arab women in the world.

In 2014 she became a Meredith Greenberg Yale World Fellow, and was awarded the conflict prevention prize by the Fondation Chirac.

In 2016, Yahyaoui was named by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leaders along with the parliamentarian Wafa Makhlouf.