Amina Sboui

Amina Sboui was born in 1994 in Tunisia and is a committed feminist and former Femen activist. In 2013, she attracted the attention (and wrath) of the public by posting topless photos of herself on Facebook with statements like “My body belongs to me” and “Fuck you morals” written on her body in Arabic. This led to her receiving countless death threats and her demonstrative campaign caused a huge stir in Tunisian society.

In 2013, Amina Sboui was arrested for graffiting “Femen” on the wall of the cemetery at the Oqba-Ibn-Nafaa mosque in Kairouan, in close proximity to where the militant Salafist group Ansar al-Sharia holds its meetings. She spent two and a half months in prison in Messadine. After her release, she ended her involvement with women’s rights group Femen and set up a refuge for gays and lesbians in Tunis. The film UPON THE

SHADOW, which she will present in Cologne, documents life in this houseshare and the courage of Amina Sboui in supporting her friends from the LGBTQI scene who have been ostracised from Tunisian society.