Latifa Ibn Ziaten (Arabic: لطيفة بن زياتن) is an activist from France. She started the Imad Association for Youth and Peace for interfaith understanding. In 2016, she received an International Women of Courage Award.
Latifa ibn Ziaten was born in Morocco. She is Muslim. When she was a teenager, she moved to France. In 2012, Latifa's son, Imad, died in a terrorist attack. Imad was a French soldier.
Latifa went to the neighborhood of her son's killer in Toulouse. She talked to the boys in the neighborhood. The boys told her the killer was a hero of Islam. When she told them her son was killed, they apologized. Then Latifa decided to start an organization to help the young people. She tells young people to learn about Islam from their parents, not from the internet. Latifa receives threats and has a bodyguard.
Awards
Conflict Prevention Prize from the Jacques Chirac Foundation, 2015
Prix de la Tolérance from the Friends of Marcel Rudloff, 2016.
Other websites
2016 International Women of Courage Awards, U.S. State Department photostream on Flickr Secretary's International Women of Courage Award (U.S. Department of State)