Afghan rapper who escaped being sold into marriage by her own family

Sonita Alizadeh won international recognition after record video criticizing the sale of girls for weddings; Young is among the 100 most influential women in the world in 2015




Sonita Alizadeh is 19 and won an award in 2014 for the song "Children for Sale"

Sonita Alizadeh, one rapper Afghanistan, was inspired to write music when his family "had to sell it" to "buy a bride" to his brother.

"These girls forced to marry early childhood and lose hope," said Alizadeh.



The rapper, 19, gained international renown in 2014 by music video "Daughters for sale," a critique of common practice in Afghanistan to sell girls for weddings.


It grows in Iran, where the family moved fleeing the war in Afghanistan. She was just 10 years old when the family tried to sell it to marry. The marriage ended not coming true, but at 16 she knew that the family wanted to marry her to a stranger.

She recorded the video in protest against the planned wedding, and attracted international attention to the cause. It ended up being contacted by an international human rights NGO, which obtained a student visa for her in the US, where Alizadeh lives today.

"When I moved to the US I could not get the faces of my friends head - all bruised and injured because they faced their families," she says.



The life of the rapper will be portrayed in a BBC series on 100 inspirational women

Sonita Alizadeh will be portrayed life in a documentary and participating in the project 100 Women (100 women) of the BBC, pointed out that the most inspiring women of the world in 2015.

The list includes names like the actress Hilary Swank and the Sudanese model Alek Wek, as well as entrepreneurs with less than 30 years and inspiring women over 80 years.