Maliah

"Bloom..."
-Maliah
Maliah Ali is a Junta Arabian singer, popstar, and civil rights activist currently held in the Jeddah Maximum Security Detainment Facility, mainly used to sequester political dissidents and opposition figures. Born in the city of Jeddah in March, 2093, Maliah has seen firsthand how the Arabian Junta of General Mohammed Bin Kashr oppresses and abuses its citizens. Her father, Osman Ali, was a prominent civil activist and intellectual, whom she watched get beaten to death by Junta soldiers at the age of eleven. 
Following this event, Maliah fell into a deep depression, something no one was able to get her out of. Though her mother had wanted to flee the Junta, Maliah's family didn't have the funds to hire a smuggler to take them across the heavily guarded border. Thus, her mother instead decided to bring the outside world in instead. Buying an illegal radio pre-loaded with hundreds of songs banned by the Junta, Maliah would eventually find light in their tunes, and find new meaning in their words. 
Suddenly able to comprehend a wider world than her own, Maliah would begin idolizing musicians and singers, vehemently attempting to capture and copy any and all tunes she heard. Her mother, seeing the joy it had brought her daughter, decided to send to her a 'cultural school', a vehicle of pro-Junta propaganda in order to boost her musical inclinations, under the guise of learning the heavily promoted anti-globalist, pro-isolationist views of the Junta. Maliah would hate every single second in that school, but would in later interviews admit that it had been a big step in furthering her career. Learning how to sing traditional songs, Maliah would make a name for herself, and even be chosen to join a chosen few girls who would sing for government officials in Riyadh. There, she would catch the eye of the culture minister, and would get chosen as part of a singing choir to go to the World Culture Festival in New York City as part of the Arabian Delegation. 
When Maliah touched down in New York, her whole worldview was rocked by how different and free everything was. After her group's performance, she would even get the chance to meet a younger Mother Maestro, an experience that would change her life forever. Upon her return to Junta Arabia, Maliah would eventually drop out out of the cultural school, and began writing songs inspired by those of Mother Maestro, with an Arabic, soul twist. Maliah's heartwarming and down-to-earth pop songs would quickly gaining a small but avid following in her hometown, and her first post on the internet would gain over a million followers virtually overnight. 
Maliah would eventually get noticed by several record companies, and had her big break when she signed onto American industry heavyweight Bergmann Labels. Her first solo performance in Port Aden would draw a crowd of over a hundred thousand people, and Maliah would subsequently tour the Orient holding concerts in Cairo, Muscat, Jerusalem and Bandar e'Abbas. This tour would earn her enough money to relocate her entire family to the United States, and the prominence to go worldwide. 
However, even though she had achieved worldwide fame, Maliah still felt like something was missing in her life. One night, thinking back to how far she had come, she thought about where it had all started: her father's murder. Realizing in that moment that she still had a job to do, she would return home to Junta Arabia, and use her global fame to shield herself from repercussions from the regime as she toured the country, singing banned songs at illegal venues across the nation. Eventually, Maliah would begin openly criticizing the regime, and even supplant Crown Price Ibrahim Al-Saud to become the face of popular dissent against the Junta. 
The Junta, originally cowed by the fact that any actions against Maliah would be met with international condemnation, began to view her as a threat, and officially exiled her in a trial meant to force her out. However, the fact that Maliah had not been present during the event and the sheer fakeness of the charges brought against her turned the trial into a sham, and was subject to widespread ridicule. 
When mass protests against local Junta forces in the Holy City of Mecca broke out in mid 2120, Maliah would travel to the city to inspire the protestors and call for the peaceful transition to democracy. However, the protests quickly turned deadly as Junta forces fired into the crowd, killing twelve people. The protests quickly turned into riots, and a subsequent crackdown by security forces. Maliah, witnessing the horrors around her and being reminded yet again of her father, lost any and all pretext of peace, and would go on to throw her full support behind the protesters. Finally having enough, Junta Leader Mohammed Bin Kashr ordered her arrest, and Maliah had to flee underground. 
However, she refused to leave the city, instead staying to inspire the protesters. Holding one last concert right outside the Great Mosque, she would whip up the crowd in a thunderous fury, condemning the crimes of the Junta. When the concert was raided by Junta forces, Maliah would be arrested and beaten live on TV. Quickly sentenced to life in prison under the pretext of having committed blasphemy, insurrection, and the desecration of homeland soil, Maliah was carted off to Jedda's Max-Sec Prison, and sequestered in the deepest part of the facility. 
Since her arrest, protests have broken out worldwide calling for her release, and a growing insurgency has made her the symbol of resistance against the Junta. Now in a more precarious situation than ever, only time will tell what the full ramifications of Maliah's influence will be.