Azhari Mohamed Ali (; born 19 November 1954), is a Sudanese poet and activist. Ali was born on 19 November 1954 in the village of Al-Makniyah, ,

River Nile State River Nile ( ar, ولاية نهر النيل, Nahr an Nīl) is one of the 18 wilayat or states of Sudan. It has an area of 122,123 km² (47,152 mi²) and an estimated population of 1,027,534 (2006). It is made up of seven localities. ...

. He lost his parents when he was only four years old. He started his life as a worker in the textile factory in , then formed a duet with Mustafa Sayed Ahmed and Wad Al-Maqboul. Ali wrote extensively about revolution and protesting. A line from his poem was recited by the

Alaa Salah ''Kandake of the Sudanese Revolution'' (also known as ''Woman in White'' and ''Lady Liberty of the Sudanese Revolution'') is a photograph of Alaa Salah, a 22-year-old student, standing on top of a car, dressed in white and gold, and leading a c ...

, “The bullet doesn’t kill. What kills is the silence of people”, which has been a well-known slogan chanted by protesters during the

2018-2019 Sudanese protests The Sudanese Revolution was a major shift of political power in Sudan that started with street protests throughout Sudan on 19 December 2018 and continued with sustained civil disobedience for about eight months, during which the 2019 Sudane ...

and earlier in the

2011–2013 Sudanese protests The 2011–2013 protests in Sudan began in January 2011 as part of the Arab Spring regional protest movement. Unlike in other Arab countries, popular uprisings in Sudan had succeeded in toppling the government prior to the Arab Spring in 1964 and ...

. During the Sudanese protests in 2021, Ali was physically assaulted by the police. According to Ali, the police chocked him with a flag he was carrying, beaten him with hands and batons, tore his clothes while shouting a torrent of hurtful and obscene phrases. Ali’s son, Zaryab, died on 10 July 2021 in Paris from cancer. Ali’s brother died an year later in September 2022.

References

Sudanese poets 1954 births Living people Sudanese activists {{Sudan-stub