Our Glasgow Girl

Published: 2 December 2014

Amal Azzudin (BA 2011, MSc 2014) is a human rights activist whose inspirational story has been adapted for stage and TV.

Amal Azzudin: BA 2011, MSc 2014
Current position: Campaigner and human rights activist; works with the Mental Health Foundation

Amal Azzudin

‌Aged 15 Amal Azzudin and friends took a stand against the immigration authorities’ treatment of an asylum seeker friend. Their brave story has since been adapted for stage and TV. Lisa Drysdale talks with the ‘Glasgow girl’ to find out what’s next for her.

When friend and fellow Drumchapel High School pupil Agnesa Murselaj was removed from her home in a dawn raid along with her family, Amal and six of her classmates set their sights on her release.

As Roma from Kosovo, Agnesa and her family had come to Scotland five years previously to seek asylum; now they found themselves locked in a detention centre, threatened with deportation.

What began as a simple petition intensified into a forthright campaign to lobby the Home Office for the family’s release, and for more humane treatment of asylum seekers. Press and TV coverage won the Glasgow girls support from the community, and the group eventually found themselves confronting the then First Minister Jack McConnell face to face. All their efforts paid off: the girls got their friend (and her family) back three weeks later. The story has since inspired a National Theatre of Scotland production and a BBC Three musical drama.

Amal is originally from Somalia and had herself received leave to remain in the UK just the year before the incident involving her friend. There is no doubt that her campaigning experience as a 15-year-old set Amal on her current career path. After first going to college, where she worked in communities, Amal entered the second year of the BA in Community Development at Glasgow.

‘I love working with people, and I love making a difference – that’s what I’m most passionate about – so it was the perfect course for me,’ says Amal.

Amal graduated in 2011 and a few months later was offered a community development role at the Mental Health Foundation, raising awareness of mental health and wellbeing among refugee women.

She has continued to work in the role that she loves even after returning to the University in 2013 to study for a Masters in Human Rights & International Politics.

Somehow Amal has also managed to find time to juggle a hectic schedule of speaking engagements, advocating for peace in Gaza among other causes.

‘I’m very interested in the whole asylum system and how that works, and I think that’s what I want to do now,’ Amal says. ‘But eventually I hope to have my own charity and help everyone, not just asylum seekers.’

Our history of helping

The University’s history of supporting vulnerable people, including refugees and academics at risk, stretches back over the centuries. Read more...

This feature was originally published in Avenue 58, the June 2015 issue of the magazine for alumni and friends of the University.

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First published: 2 December 2014

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