(IPS News) More and more of Sudan’s female politicians and rights activists are being arrested and detained in the government’s clampdown on opposition political parties. Asma Ahmed, a lawyer and member of the banned Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North (SPLM–N), was released on Jun. 14 after a five-week detention. She believes that the Sudanese authorities are increasingly targeting women because they have become more active in the political and social arena in recent years. Fatima Ghazzali, a pro-democracy activist and journalist working for the political section of Al-Jareeda newspaper said that women were at the forefront of the calls for democracy and freedom in Sudan. “It is women who are the majority of internally displaced in this country, they bear the brunt of war. The escalating participation of women activists in recent protests and campaigns has even made the police take notice of women’s participation in calls for democracy, she said. “They said that women and journalists are always there, always present at protests,” said Ghazzali, who spent time in jail in 2011 for an article she wrote on the gang rape of a female protestor in detention.
Posted on: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 08:38:03 +0000
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