SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Reuters - Beaten and abused, Sudan's women bear scars of fight for freedom

11/7/19: Reuters - Beaten and abused, Sudan's women bear scars of fight for freedom, by Umit Bektas

 Umit Bektas’ feature piece spoke to Sudanese woman activists, who described their repression from security forces and their outlook for the future.

 Local women’s activists said soldiers held up women’s underwear on poles to symbolize the women they had sexually assaulted.

 42-year-old activist Hadia Hasaballah said “they know that if they humiliate the women, they will humiliate the whole people…none of the Sudanese women will officially say that they were raped because of the stigma.” She added that “Sudan can be better...we will fight for a democratic Sudan, real change and for our rights.”

 Manal Farah, 49, who lost her son in the protests, said “the aim of the government is to convince mothers of revolutionaries to prevent their sons from joining the revolution. But no matter what we say to them they will never stop before achieving their objectives.”