Sudan’s female anti-coup protesters fear loss of freedom under army rule

Asmaa Ismail heard of last month’s coup in Sudan when her flatmate woke her up at 6.30am with news that the prime minister had been arrested. She got dressed and went outside to join her neighbours, who were already protesting against the military takeover.

Asmaa, 35, said: “I’ve been demonstrating since I was a teenager. This coup is a betrayal of our fight for freedom, democracy and women’s rights and we’re determined to resist it.”

Women were at the forefront of the protests in Khartoum that ousted longstanding dictator Omar al-Bashir in April 2019. Viral images of a young woman clad in white spurring on crowds came to embody the spirit of the movement, as did chants of, “This revolution is a women’s revolution”.

Now, Sudan’s women are taking to the streets again following the 25 October coup led by General Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan who dissolved the civilian transitional government and declared a state of emergency.

Several female protesters told The Independent they were fearful of rights being rolled back under military rule and a return to restrictive Islamic laws from the al-Bashir era that controlled every aspect of women’s lives.

“For us this is very personal. You cannot imagine the number of women who have been in the streets protesting for their rights,” Asmaa added.

Fresh protests broke out in Khartoum on Saturday after al-Burhan appointed a new ruling council led by himself, violating a power-sharing agreement between pro-democracy leaders and the military.

The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, which is aligned with the protest movement, said at least 200 people were injured. A 13-year-old girl died from a bullet wound to the head, taking the death toll for those killed in rallies since the coup to 22, according to the committee.

Duaa Tariq, 29, who has also been participating in the demonstrations, said she had heard reports of soldiers beating and sexually harassing several women who were detained while protesting.

The military could not be reached for comment on the reports of violence against women. Burhan has previously said peaceful protests are allowed and that the army does not kill protesters.

One of the demonstrators, Mai, 44, a business owner, described being choked by teargas and hearing the crackle of gunfire echoing through the streets on Saturday.

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She said resisting the coup was, “a matter of life and death”, for Sudanese women.

“You can’t imagine how misogynist the old regime was, it went against the essence of our society, where women have always played a very prominent role,” said Mai, who only gave her first name.

Under 30-odd years of Islamic rule in Sudan which ended last year, women’s ability to work was limited while courts handed out punishments by whipping to those considered inappropriately dressed.

“We can’t let them take us back to the past, it was like the dark ages for women,” Mai added. “During the 2019 revolution, women were the ones who fought the hardest and we won’t let the military take control again.”

Al-Burhan insists he is committed to holding elections scheduled for 2023 and has said he will not seek office after the vote is held. The general said the coup was necessary to save Sudan from chaos amid mounting unrest and the perilous state of the economy.

Yet the women taking to the streets are not convinced.

Activist Duaa echoed Mai’s fears, saying that hard-won gains women had fought for since al-Bashir’s toppling could be lost if the military took back control.

Since April 2019, Sudan has outlawed female genital mutilation and lifted bans on women doing activities such as playing sport.

The now-deposed prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, described the former regime’s rules restricting women’s lives as, “an instrument of exploitation, humiliation, violation, aggression on the rights of citizen”.

“Women have had much more freedom in their daily lives since the revolution in 2019,” Duaa said. “The military leaders do not like that and I think they are trying to break these freedoms but we will not go back to that period. That’s what we are protesting against.”

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Yet some believe that insufficient progress was made following the coup, especially on the inclusion of women in politics.

Only four members of the 25-strong civilian administration deposed last month were women and they were also excluded from leadership positions in the Forces of Freedom and Change coalition, which coordinated the protests that toppled al-Bashir.

“Women’s voices were muffled following al-Bashir’s downfall and they were not given their rightful place in the transitional government” said Mai. “In the past 18 months or so, things had been moving, but not as fast as we wanted.”

Further protests are planned in Khartoum and across the country and female demonstrators will continue to rally despite the dangers. For many, the risk of violence is outweighed by the fear of losing freedoms.

“Women are staking their place on the street, because if we don’t, soon we may not be able to leave our homes,” said Duaa.

“We’re confident we can defeat them," she added. "We’ve done this before.”