How Could This Woman Possibly “Deserve” To Die? Fears Grow For Young Woman’s Life After She Posts “Protest” Pictures On Facebook

How could this woman possibly "deserve" to die? That’s the question that the entire internet is asking since the above image went viral.

The Huffington Post reports that the woman in the picture is known only as ‘Amina’ and she posted political self portraits to Facebook in order to protest the continued oppression of women in Tunisia.

Posing topless, one picture features Amina smoking a cigarette with the words: “My body belongs to me, and is not the source of the honour of anyone.” Another shows the young woman with her middle finger raised to the camera and the English words “F**k your morals” scrawled across her chest.

The woman is said to be a member of the feminist activist group Femen (who are known for their topless protests) and the pictures, which were posted to the Femen-Tunisia Facebook page, have sparked outrage.

Kapitalis, a Tunisian newspaper, quoted the Wahabi Salafi preacher Almi Adel, the man who heads the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, as saying:

“The young lady should be punished according to sharia, with 80 to 100 lashes, but [because of] the severity of the act she has committed, she deserves to be stoned to death. Her act could bring about an epidemic. It could be contagious and give ideas to other women. It is therefore necessary to isolate [the incident]. I wish her to be healed.”

Amina is a member of the feminist activist group Femen

It is believed that if Amina “committed the offence” in her homeland of Tunisia, she could be punished by up to two years in prison and a fine of 100 to 1,000 dinars. However, religious leaders are calling for her to face the death sentence.

Since the pictures appeared online, Femen lost contact with Amina, sparking fears for her life but it is being reported online that a lawyer claiming to represent Amina is safe and well with her family.

“We see that the family is trying to share news that Amina is safe and [that they] don’t want any support campaign. The woman who calls herself [her] aunt claims that Amina has mental problems and that’s why she posted the picture. The lawyer is representing the interests of the family, but not Amina’s,” said Inna Shevchenko, the leader of Femen.

“We still didn’t hear [the] voice of Amina and didn’t see her face. Until the moment we hear word from Amina about her safety we are searching for her and continuing our international bare breasts support.

“...Amina represents those who are going to break anti-human traditions that come from the Middle Ages but still are practiced today. For them it’s easier to kill a woman then to agree that she has rights,” she added.

Hundreds of women around the globe have since submitted topless pictures of themselves to the Femen Facebook page supporting Amina and more than 94,000 people have signed a petition calling for those who have threatened her life to be prosecuted.