Khadija Ben Hamou beat 16 contestants to become only the second black Miss Algeria in history. Although she is set to represent this North African country at Miss World 2019, her victory has been mired in racial abuse.
Khadija Ben Hamou, the 2019 winner of the Miss Algeria pageant, has not only been bombarded with racist comments by some social media users on the basis of her skin colour and facial features but "degrading and retouched photographs" of her have also been circulated. The message from her critics is that she does not represent the beauty of Algeria, despite the fact that she made it through 20 rounds of the competition before being crowned. This made her the second darker-skinned Algerian to win the pageant, after Nassima Mokadem, who was awarded the title in 2005.
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