Yousef Ramadan, the Ambassador of Palestine to Bangladesh, hosted a dinner reception in Dhaka on Thursday night in honour of Umama Fatema, Anika Tahsina, and Aysha Siddiqua Tithi, the Bangladeshi youth icons who made headlines after courageously rejecting a US award in protest against Washington’s support for Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza.
At the event, Ambassador Ramadan praised their bold stance, saying: “We will always remember this gesture. It gives us strength and sends a powerful message not just to Palestinians, but to the world. Yes, we are fighting, struggling, and suffering, but we are not alone. There are human beings, 5,000 kilometres away, standing behind us, supporting us in every possible way.”
Umama Fatema said: “We must always feel the struggle from within. What the people of Palestine are enduring is unimaginable. Compared to that, my act of rejecting an award is nothing. I simply acted from a place of moral responsibility as a human being. As students of Bangladesh, we have inherited a legacy of resistance, and we have to live up to that. Across the world, people are suffering. Bombs are being dropped day after day, children are dying—not just in Palestine, but in Yemen and many other places. As Bangladeshis, we have a duty to stand in solidarity, always.”
The ambassador presented a token of appreciation to Umama Fatema for her courageous act.
Previously, Umama, Anika, and Aysha rejected the International Women of Courage Award 2025, conferred by the US State Department, which had nominated women activists for a special honour in recognition of their contributions to the July Uprising
