After a four-month suspense, Iraqi Chada Hassoun, 26, finally won the Star Academy Competition for the Arab world on Friday March 30. With an Iraqi father and a Moroccan mother, may have received seven million of votes via SMS from Iraq. The ceremony took place in Beirut (Lebanon), and was broadcast by Lebanese channel LBC. Information concerning the Arab Star Academy was also released by American channel CNN.

The competitors were from North Africa and Arab countries. In Irbil, in the North of Iraq, joy filled up the streets after the news of Chada Hassoun’s victory. In a bruised country, which had just lost another 500 men and women during the week, Chada Hassoun’s victory propagated joy and hope.

The Pan-Arab version of the Star Academy is produced by Dutch company Endemol and diffused on Lebanese television channel LBC. Star Academy Middle East is one of the most popular broadcasts in the Arabic world where the satellite antennas bloom everywhere.

At the announcement of its victory over the three other competitors still in the run (a Lebanese, a Tunisian and an Egyptian), Chada Hassoun fell on her knees, wrapped in an Iraqi flag. At this moment, a power-cut happened in Bagdad, so that a important part of the population of the Iraqi capital couldn’t hear the good news. However, shouting and shots rang in the buildings that are equipped with generators. The news then circulated in the city via SMS and calls of mobiles.

Although Chada Hassoun lives in Morocco, numerous Iraqis, Sunnites or Shiites, identified with her: they saw in her history a way to forget their everyday life, marked by the fear of attacks. They found in her victory a rare motive for national pride.

In an interview with the Iraqi channel Al Charkia, Chada Hassoun thanked her fellow countrymen for their support : "I thank Bagdad, I thank Iraq!" she exclaimed, very moved.