Newly crowned Miss Islam calls for 'liberation of Palestine'

Fatma Ben Guefrache of Tunisia was named winner of the 2014 World Muslimah Award on Saturday, and was quick to use her newfound platform to call for the "liberation of Palestine."

The World Muslimah Award is considered the Muslim world's version to the Miss World pageant.

In her acceptance speech, the 25-year-old computer scientist, whose prizes included a gold watch and a visit to Mecca, said, "May the almighty Allah help me in this mission, and free Palestine, please, please, free Palestine and the Syrian people."

The World Muslimah Award competition is open exclusively to Muslim women. This year's pageant, which was held in Indonesia, included 25 contestants. According to Agence France-Presse, the 18 finalists were judged not only for their appearance, but also on how well-versed they were in the Quran, and their views on Islam's place in the modern world.

The Miss Islam pageant, as the competition has been dubbed, first drew international attention in 2013, when organizers presented it as a peaceful protest to Miss World, which was taking place around the same time on the resort island of Bali.