The 22-year-old woman who has come to symbolise Sudanese resistance says she's happy that her image has been seen around the world.
"I'm very glad that my photo let people around the world know about the revolution in Sudan... Since the beginning of the uprising, I have been going out every day and participating in the demonstrations because my parents raised me to love our home," Alaa Salah told The Guardian.
Dressed in white robes and standing on top of a car, her right hand held high, a finger pointed skyward, Salah led vast crowds in song and poetry.
"The day they took the photo, I went to 10 different gatherings and read a revolutionary poem. It makes people very enthusiastic. In the beginning I found a group of about six women and I started singing, and they started singing with me. Then the gathering became really big."
Salah is an architectural student in Khartoum. She said she did not come from a political background and took to the streets to fight for a better Sudan."Our country is above any political parties and any sectarian divisions," she said.The toub, the white garment that has become synonymous with Salah, was worn by Nubian queens and has become a symbol of the female protesters. Salah narrowly escaped arrest when she wore the toub at an earlier demonstration.In the Bashir era, women faced being jailed and were even threatened with physical torture for a variety of offences, such as wearing trousers or behaving in a way that was deemed inappropriate.Salah said she now had to rest her voice because her throat had become sore from all the chanting...