Sudanese security forces rape student girl in fresh anti-coup protests
March 14, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese security forces on Monday raped a girl they arrested after her participation in anti-coup protests in Khartoum in what has become a weapon to dissuade women from taking to the streets.
Government forces were massively deployed in Khartoum streets on Monday to disperse protests against the military rule in the country.
The security forces stationed at the Massalamiya bridge in central Khartoum fired tear gas inside a bus forcing the passengers to flee. They, however, arrested and raped a university student while her female colleague succeeded to escape.
The residents found the girl after the departure of the uniformed personnel and took her to the hospital after informing her family.
The head of Sudan’s Combating Violence against Women Unit (CVAW), Selima Khalifa Ishaq confirmed that a girl was subjected to sexual violence during her participation in the protests, as she said in statements to Altaghyeer news outlet after the assault on Monday.
Ishaq added that the raped student was less than twenty years old.
Eyewitnesses who took the girl to the hospital said that she was subjected to gang rape by eight soldiers who took her belongings including her mobile.
This is not the first time that government forces commit sexual attacks against women after the coup.
In December 2021, the security forces raped eight women after their arrest for participation in the anti-coup demonstration.
At the time, the military-led head of the Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan vowed to investigate the assault.
The Resistance Committees called for demonstrations on Tuesday to protest the rape.
The Sudanese authorities did not react to the crime.
Sudan is witnessing civil unrest and political instability after a coup d’état by Gen al-Burhan that interrupted a transitional process.
On Monday, the Sudanese youth took to the street to express their rejection of the military rule.
The government forces used tear gas, stun grenades and water cannons to disperse the protesters in the three cities of the capital Khartoum.
Violent confrontations took place between the demonstrators and the police in the streets near the presidential palace.
In a statement after the protests, the Unified Office of Doctors said there are 35 cases of wounds caused by cartridge guns in the head, neck, chest and abdomen.
The coalition of medical groups once again warned against the use of this fatal weapon stressing that it killed three protesters and wounded over 150 others since the beginning of the anti-coup protests four months ago.
(ST)