الموضوع ما النظام العام، الموضوع الراي العام

شهر ١٠ الفات، مشيت بنك الخرطوم  عشان اقضي كم غرض. واقفة في واحد من الصفوف  الكتيرة البتجسد الفهم السوداني "للصف". في راجل كبير في السن واقف وراي  و بدون مقدمات، قال لي يا بت "ارفعي الطرحة" …الطرحة الكانت في كتفي  طبعاً.. لمن قبلته عليهو تاني بنبرة حادة اكتر قال لي يا بت ارفعي الطرحة…غطي شعرك..

واصلته في وقفتي لحدي ما جاء دوري بعد نص ساعة و في النص ساعة دي… سمعتة محادثة بين الراجل الكبير دا و شاب واقف جامبو و المحادثة دي كانت مهمة و بتعبر عن كيف الشعب زاتو بقى متمسك بثقافة النظام العام و بيطبق في نظرياته.

بعد ما الراجل قرر اني بت ما عندي اخلاق و "فاجرة" قال للشاب الوراهو 

"شفته الفاجرات ديل هم الجايبين لينا الظلم و الفقر و الوضع النحنا فيهو هسي" 

ووافق الشاب و اتكلموا عن كيف لو البنات لبست كويس  الحاجات حتبقى كويسة و البلد حترجع لي خيره.

   لمن قريت  قصة اميرة عثمان مع النظام العام ، اتذكرته الراجل دا و المنطق بتاعه. ممكن في ناس تستغرب لكن حتى بدون ناس النظام العام، الشعب السوداني بقى كلو نظام عام. يعني لو طرحتك وقعت في الموصلات، ما محتاجة ترفعيها لانو الراجل او المراة الوراك حيرفعوها ليك طوالي. لو توبك وقع، نفس الناس ديل حقولوا ليك البسي عباية يا مرا.. العباية سترة اكتر..

واصبح الشعب شغال لصالح النظم العام لانو مقتنعين انو في مشاكل اجتماعية حيقيقة من تفكك الاسر، الاطفال فاقدي السند، الفقر الما حصل قبلي كدا، المخدرات الخ...

هسي لو سالتوا الراجل في البنك علاقتي انا او البنات شنو بوضع البلد، حيقول ليكم انو البلد دي منكوبة عشان لبس البنات الي بيمثل ليهو و لناس كتير اكبر موشر لفساد المجتمع او تفكك الاسرة او كل الظواهر السلبية. لانو الرؤية (زي ما اتنقلت ليهم من ثقافة النظام العام) هي انو انحراف المجتمع بيبدا من النساء لانو هم البيحملوا خارج الزواج (قضايا الزنا هنا بتتحاكم فيها النساء بس) ، هم البيغروا الرجال الى الرزيلة ، هو البخلو اولادهم ينحرفوا بالاهمال و هم و هم و هم. 

فلو الثقافة دي بتخلي الزول يفكر انو تفشي المشاكل الاجتماعية هي سببها النساء يبقى ساهل انو يربط بين الحاجات دي و المشاكل الاقتصادية …يعني النساء بيبقو سبب مشاكله اليومية و الضائقة المعيشية اليومية.

و راي الراجل فالبنك هو من غير ما يكون عارف بيتماشى مع قانون النظام العام. 

قانون النظام العام زي ما قال واحد من الاشخاص الوضعوا القانون: يهدف انو يعمل صياغة جديدة للمجتمع ويذل المراة. 

ما ضروري يتم اعتقلاك ورفعك في البوكس عشان يتم اذلالك، افتكر انو كبت في السودان ، كون انك تخافي من النظام العام و تشيلي هم المرقة ، دا في حد ذاتو ذلة.

و اعادة صياغ المجتمع دا الموضوع الافتكر مهم شديد. لانو النظام العام نقل الفكر و المنهج الداير يطبقوا للمجتمع و المجتمع هو بقى اكبر مطبق في الجامعات، المواصلات او في الاحياء (رش موية النار، التحرش، الضرب و الاسائات و كل الحاجات البقت شبه يومية للنساء في السودان)

المشكلة ما طرحة او بنطلون، المشكلة هي انو المجتمع بقى منكوب بالمشاكل الاجتماعية و لكن قبض الناس و الجلد هو ما حل. الحل هو سياسة جديدة توحد البلد و توقف الحروب و سياسيات اقتصادية ترفع الناس من تحت خط الفقر. 

Sudan's Anti-FGM Campaign Avoids Using the Term

A new nationwide media blitz in Sudan calls for the end of the practice of cutting girls' genitalia. Critics say its edge is dulled by not directly referring to FGM and instead relying on a word that means "complete."

Published @ http://womensenews.org/story/genital-mutilation/130818/sudans-anti-fgm-campaign-avoids-using-the-term#.UiOF2WYjle4

Time to Let Sudan’s Girls Be Girls, Not Brides

Published at IPS

Lawyers and rights activists are calling for a change in Sudan’s laws which allow for the marriage of girls as young as 10.

It is time, they say, that Sudan’s laws recognise gender equality so that the country’s girls and young women can take control of their lives and leave behind the cycle of child marriage and abuse.

“(Activists) are advocating a change in the personal status laws as they discriminate against women and aim to keep them in the household,” said Khadija Al-Dowahi, from the Sudanese Organisation for Research and Development (SORD), which conducts research on child marriage.

Sudan’s 1991 Personal Status Law of Muslims does not grant women equal rights. It also promotes child marriage. Article 40 of the personal status law sets no age limit for marriage and in fact states that a 10-year-old girl can be married “with the permission of a judge”.

"Before we observed more marriages of girls in agricultural communities … now it is increasing in cities because of the economic situation and the attempt by families to preserve their girls from the corruption of the city." -- human rights lawyer Amel Al-Zein

“The personal status laws basically state that girls can get married when they are old enough to be able to comprehend matters … but you could easily say that girls understand matters at the age of 10,” Al-Dowahi told IPS.

In addition, Sudan has not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

The U.N. Children’s Fund estimates that a third of Sudanese women now aged 20 to 24 were married before the age of 18. In rural areas, where the problem is more persistent, child marriage is as high as 39 percent as opposed to 22 percent in urban areas.

A visit to Khartoum Hospital shows clearly just how widespread the phenomenon of child marriage is in Sudan. Inside, there is an entire Obsetric Fistula ward – the patients there are mostly young mothers whose bodies are too underdeveloped to allow them to give birth, making them prone to developing fistula.

Amel Al-Zein, a lawyer who has researched the issue of child marriage, is very critical of the country’s personal status laws.

“Unlike other countries in the region or Islamic countries per se, it does not specify a certain age for marriage, which is the only guarantee to controlling child marriage,” Al-Zein told IPS.

Al-Zein stated that women could not go to court to get a divorce or undertake any legal procedures before the age of 18, which contradicts the fact that girls as young as 10 are married.

“When we began researching issues of gender justice, we started seeing how child marriage is interlinked to many issues facing women, the women go to courts to fight over custody and get a divorce only to discover how terrible and discriminatory the laws are,” said Al-Dowahi, whose organisation has proposed reforms to the laws.

Related IPS Articles

• Marrying Off South Sudan’s Girls for Cows
• Sudan Hits Hard at Female Activists
• Fighting for a Free Press in Sudan
• SOUTH SUDAN: Equitable Oil Deal Needed For Peace

SORD has recently established a legal aid centre for women being discriminated against by the personal status laws. So far 46 cases have arrived at the centre since its inception three months ago.

Meanwhile, the Council of Sudanese Scholars, a prestigious religious body, is  causing controversy. Last year when its secretary-general, Prof. Mohamed Osman Salah, spoke in favour of child marriage, activists became infuriated.

Salah told the press in October 2012: “Islam encourages youth to marry to save them from perversion or any dangers of being single and to make them happy and to preserve reproduction.”

Not all religious scholars share Salah’s opinion. This is mainly because child marriage in Sudan is a consequence of social and cultural traditions, not only religious values.

Sarah Mohamed*, for example, was married off at 13 years old because the nearest high school for girls was too far from her village – lack of access to education makes parents less likely to keep daughters at home.

This is not an unusual age for getting married in her small village of Karko, which lies in Southern Kordofan.

“I remember how confused I felt, I had no idea what marriage is, I was a child,” Mohamed, who turned 30 a few weeks ago and now has five children, told IPS.

She had her firstborn at 16 and today very few people can believe that she has a son in high school.

Rana Ahmed* had a different experience. She was 15 when her mother discovered that she was dating a boy in her neighbourhood, after she caught her speaking to him on the phone.

“She became too upset and told me that she would find me a husband before I did something really bad. She said this would make me stop playing around,” Ahmed, now 24, told IPS.

Her husband, who was in his late 30s at the time, took Rana abroad, where he worked as a doctor, for five years. When they returned to Sudan, with her two young children, she felt that she wanted to live again.

“I was bored and unfulfilled in my life, I wanted to experience what girls my age experience. I wanted to have the freedom to date and go out,” said Ahmed who is now divorced.

Al-Dowahi said that Ahmed’s story is not unique – young girls are not ready for family responsibilities or for sexual experience. Some end up succeeding and going back to school, but others cannot cope and end up having affairs and living a quite different life.

As Sudan’s economic situation continues to deteriorate, activists have said that  cities are themselves becoming similar to rural areas, with child marriage becoming a pressing problem even among the educated urban communities.

“Before we observed more marriages of girls in agricultural communities … now it is increasing in cities because of the economic situation and the attempt by families to preserve their girls from the corruption of the city,” said Al-Zein.

SORD’s research showed that women in camps for internally displaced persons and in east Sudan usually face early marriage more than others.

In fact, east Sudan is home to the youngest divorcee – a young girl who was granted a divorce when she was nine. In the traditions of her community, girls are married at the age of two months, and taken to their husbands after they reach 10 years of age.

Lakshmi Sundaram, global coordinator of Girls not Brides, a global partnership to end child marriage, thinks it is a question of the value placed on the girl-child.

“We have to challenge converting a girl, even with her consent, into an economic commodity. We have to address the fundamental aspect that a girl has intrinsic value as a human being, not just a value cost,” Sundaram told IPS.

*Names changed to protect identity.

Sudan Hits Hard at Female Activists

KHARTOUM, Jul 2 2013 (IPS) - 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.

“The targeting of women activists is because we are continuing to send our messages effectively. If we weren’t, we would not be detained … but detentions will not make women less keen to continue activism,” Ahmed told IPS.

The rebel SPLM–N was banned in 2011 when it took up arms against government forces in Sudan’s South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

“My house was watched for a few days before my detention. My family was told by National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) officers that I had been summoned, and so I went to the interrogation in Khartoum north and didn’t return home that day,” Ahmed said.

According to international rights watchdog Amnesty International, Sudan’s 2010 National Security Act, “provides agents of the security services with wide powers of arrest and detention. Torture and other ill-treatment remain widespread.”

In April, Human Rights Watch said in a statement that “in recent months the Sudanese government has increased repression of political and civil society groups. The authorities shut down four civil society groups in December, accusing them of receiving foreign funds, have also closed down Nuba cultural groups, and recently re-instated restrictions on the media.”

It is unclear how many women remain in detention. The Sudanese Council for Defending Rights and Freedoms, an independent body of human rights defenders, lawyers and politicians, stated that the SPLM–N alone has 600 detainees, a significant number of whom are women.

Women are not exempt from the scare tactics used by security services. The events culminating in Entisar Al-Agali’s arrest are almost like a Hollywood action film. She was driving home from a meeting on Jan. 7 when a car belonging to the NISS began following her until she reached Africa Road in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum.

“They tried to stop my car, but I was speeding and trying to get away. They caught up with me and hit my car from the back and, because I was trying to avoid an accident, I stopped the car,” Al-Agali told IPS.

Al-Agali had returned from Kampala, Uganda where she had been taking part in the talks that led to the drafting of the New Dawn Charter, a document signed by Sudanese opposition political parties, as well as rebel groups and civil society, that deals with the methods to be used to bring down the Sudanese regime and set up a transitional government in the war-torn country.

“I spent 87 days in Omdurman Women’s Prison, 75 days of which were in solitary confinement,” said Al-Agali, who is a leading member of the opposition Socialist Unionist Nasserist Party.

Al-Agali was the only woman to be detained after the signing of the New Dawn Charter on Jan. 6, which saw a wave of arrests of political leaders. She is, however, not the only woman to spend weeks or months in detention in the past two years.

In November 2012, 34 alleged members of SPLM–N, most of whom are government employees, were detained in Kadugli, the capital of the embattled state of Southern Kordofan. On Apr. 26, 14 were released, but the 20 others continue to be held in detention in Kadugli Prison.

Khadija Mohamed Badr was one of the detainees released and she now stays with her family in Khartoum.

“She was severely hurt and broke two spinal discs as she slipped while in detention. She is now paying for treatment with her own money,” an activist who is trying to raise financial assistance for Badr, and who wished to remain anonymous for fear of his safety, told IPS.

Meanwhile, the government National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has been trying to establish itself as an advocacy body for political detainees. But Abdelmoniem Mohamed, a human rights lawyer who has monitored the NHRC’s role in other cases, told IPS that it has not been responsive to cases of political oppression, such as that of Jalila Khamis.

“The commission asked us to submit cases to them, cases of political detainees. But I am sceptical as they were slow to act on Khamis’s case,” he told IPS.

Khamis, a teacher and human rights activist, was detained in March 2012 for a video she recorded on the war in her homeland, the Nuba Mountains in Southern Kordofan. Fighting between the Sudanese army and the rebel SPLM–N has been ongoing in the region since June 2011. Khamis had faced life imprisonment but was released in January after a long trial.

“I was subjected to long interrogations, the worst time was when they told me that they would kill my son. This was when I was diagnosed with arterial hypertension,” Khamis told IPS. Although released, she continues to be monitored by state security.

While it is difficult to say how many female political activists are in prison, one activist who preferred to remain anonymous told IPS:  “When the family of a detainee in Kosti (a city south of Sudan’s capital Khartoum) visited her in detention, they were given a long list of women’s names to choose from. This means that there are many women detainees we don’t know about.”

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. Women suffer the most under authoritarian regimes, that is why it does not surprise me to see that women are more keen to have democracy in Sudan,” Ghazzali told IPS, adding that only democracy would give women their full rights and protect them from security forces.

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.

Published @ http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/07/sudan-hits-hard-at-female-activists/

Sudanese journalist targeted for allegedly insulting the military

Published @Index on Censorship

When three journalists were invited to accompany a military official to a town supposedly recaptured from rebels, they did not expect to end up caught in crossfire. One journalist is being targeted after an anonymous and more honest account of the incident appeared online.

Charges have been brought against journalist Khaled Ahmed for allegedly writing a report critical of the Sudanese military.

Ahmed was one of three journalists that accompanied Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) chief of staff Esmat Abdelrahman on a visit to Abu Karshola, a neglected town in the embattled state of South Kordofan — where there has been a war between the government and rebels from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – North Sudan Faction (SPLM-N) since June 2011. The visit was organised to celebrate the town’s “liberation” from rebels.

Both SAF and the media were blocked from Abu Karshola between late April and late May. The town was occupied by the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), a coalition of rebel groups (including SPLM-N), which has fought the Sudanese government in different parts of the country since 2011. While the group contends that its departure in May was a “tactical” move, the government has asserted that it regained control of the town.

On 31 May three journalists flew over Abu Karshola in a military plane. Rather than finding a “liberated” town, Ahmed told Index that what he actually saw was a war-zone. During their visit, they were caught in crossfire as they toured the army force’s front lines. A few bullets came too close to Ahmed, and soon after he and the other journalists were taken back to the army base for safety.

“A military plane was called on for our aid, it was shot down by the SRF, we were three journalists stuck in a battlefield,” said Ahmed.

While rebels claimed to have downed the plane, official reports said that the plane crashed due to mechanical failure.

The journalists eventually returned safely to Khartoum. Ahmed’s report was published in Al-Sudani, the pro-government newspaper he works for. However, another more realistic account was published and circulated online by someone named Khaled — and that version has been attributed to Ahmed.

The report gave a version of events left out of the SAF’s spokesperson’s official statements. It painted a picture of an exhausted and confused army that actually isn’t in control of a ghost-town that the government claims it controls.

On 4 June security forces arrested Ahmed, as the report included eye-witness details drawn from the trip, and was penned by someone that shares his first name.

“I reserve the right to remain silent — I can’t answer”, said Ahmed when asked about whether or not he wrote the more honest account.

“I was told that I am detained due to a complaint filed by the army, I was interrogated for two days and asked about whether I wrote the article. I denied it, but they told me that I will be charged,” said Ahmed.

Ahmed is now facing four charges: harming the morale of the armed forces, sharing military information, tarnishing the reputation of the Chief of Staff, as well as electronic publishing (as per the new electronics crimes laws). He also said that his email and Facebook page were hacked.

The Electronic Crimes Police, which deals with crimes online, held Ahmed for a day. The law, (passed in 2007), means that journalists publishing online, as well as individuals discussing “sensitive” issues on social media websites could be detained, fined, and tried. He faces up to five years in jail as well as a fine.

Sudan will soon begin to implement its new electronic crimes laws, and Ahmed could become the first journalist to be tried under those laws. Another journalist, Wael Taha, was taken to court by a lawyer who claimed that he published false information about her under a penname, but the case was dismissed for insufficient evidence.

Just ten days after Ahmed’s detention, Dr. Nafie Ali Nafie, a presidential aide, told the legislative council of Khartoum state that the Sudanese army cannot curb the SRF, and that it needs support and mobilisation from the public.

Ahmed was released on bail on 7 June, but he was summoned twice for interrogation since.

Doctor Sara Told me Stories of Abuse

Doctor Sara sits in a pharmacy in one of Omdurman's neighborhoods, not far from Ahfad's University for Women. She interacts with people every few minutes, asks about their problems, takes the doctors prescription, hands them the requested medicine…. She makes jokes with her patients and giggles when they are nervous or exhausted. The young pharmacist is also an activist, she is interested in issues that affect our lives, issues that affect women. 

When I talked to her friends at the clinic where the pharmacy was located about sexual harassment, they laughed and called such matters "Sara's issues", they are really her issues. Sara documents stories of sexual harassment in her head, taking mental notes and carrying out in-depth interviews with the women she meets on a daily basis. She said she wants to do so much more, but she has little time. I told her I will go with her, we could go undercover to one of the factories where biscuits are made and uncover the sexual harassment there. We agreed to wear torn tours and to gain the trust of the women there before we collect their stories. 

We had many cups of juice today and sweet tea in her pharmacy and later inside the clinic where she told me many stories she documented. I took down many notes, almost filling my notebook. 

Story one: "Everyday, a different one picks me"

Fathia* came to Sara a year ago. A 40 year old women who was working at one of the factories. She complained about "pain in her stomach". 

Sara: she told me , there is something moving inside my stomach. After a few questions, I transferred her to a specialist in the clinic . 

This is where Fathia's story began with Sara and Sara's stories began with women and men working in factories. She became curious about  them, asking around, what happens to them? is the sexual harassment really that bad there?

Fathia's father remains unknown, but we know for sure that he does not live in Khartoum state. Her mother died and Fathia now lives with her mother's husband who is referred to as "Uncle- AlKhal". She told the doctor that he is a "women thief" and he comes at night. She didn't speak clearly about him, but it is clear that she was the victim of abuses within the family, did the "Khal" sleep with her? Is it possible that Fathia, from a simple family and uneducated, is even aware and is able to comprehend what has happened to her.

Fathia works at a factory and factories are the site of grave cases of sexual harassment . 

Sara: I asked a young boy who just took his high school examination about the factories… he comes by every now and then. I asked him because during the summer breaks, he does menial jobs including working in factories. He told me, innocently "ya Dr. don't remind me if I remember, I will not feel well…these people live together like they are married, they don't even shower after that, she told me…laughing at his sheer innocence.

Sara wondered what could have happened to this young man. young boys are usually at risk of sexual harassment just like women, especially in poverty and oppressive situations and the lack of awareness that plagues our society

When the doctor examined Fathia he found her 10 weeks pregnant. 

He asked: are you married? Who does the baby belong to?

Even Sara spoke to her, and she told her I don't know who the father is..they are a lot.

"Everyday, a different one picks me," said Fathia, putting it simply.

Working in factories happens in shifts, there is the scary shift which is 8 pm to 8 am. It remains unclear whether all factories offer a private place for women workers to rest …and if there is supervision especially at night when the shift has less people and generally, more men than women.

Fathia wanted an abortion, in her lack of awareness, it was clear that the harassment she was subjected to from "Al-Khal" made her confused and a target for further exploitation.

Fathia vanished and didn't come back to Sara…

Sara: did she abort the baby? What did "the khal" do? Did she leave to a faraway place to raise the baby somewhere where none knows her?

Sara continues to wonder and so did I.

Story Two: "this factory is suspicious"

When the doctor began investigation the kind of sexual harassment happening to women at factories, she discovered dark secrets..to some, factories are like "houses for prostitutes"

Sara: there was a lady I spoke to, she said that biscuit and sweets factories are the worst with high rates of sexual harassment and sexual exploitation….but one factory (hint: it does not make biscuits or sweets) is looked at as :suspicious". 

This factory hires girls according to "physical traits"..in other words..they want pretty girls with nice bodies…the girl who works there is considered "a slut"…and in the society of factories and factory-workers, this is a known fact.

In Sudan, people gossip about such issues, but are silent about taking action, but then again, the society will blame girls working there….

"Why are they working there if they don't accept what happens to them," they will say…

So many girls working in the factories are "day-by-day workers", in other words, they earn money on a  daily basis and many are living in crippling poverty even to the standards of a third world country.

The need to make a living makes a woman go everyday and work long hours and shut her mouth when she is subjected to sexual harassment….

On the public transportation on the way back to her house, she is thinking about what to do to stop this exploitation without getting fired…there are so many unemployed people, if they fire a woman, they won't have a hard time finding another woman…it is a vicious cycle of never-ending abuse…

Economic and social conditions force women to tolerate a lot, they always say that poverty knows no dignity. They ask why the girls are silent, do they accept it? 

I assure you, silence is not "a sign of acceptance"…in this case, it is a sign of the quiet daily struggle to eat.

Story Three: My daughter is fine, she has no problem

Dr.Sara told me a rape story…as usual in Sudan, the victim of rape is a little girl. Rapping children has become nothing short of an epidemic, fast-spreading and as a society, with our lack of awareness and our fear of "the scandal and the fact that your girl will be shamed into spinsterhood", we find ourselves implicated in this crime.

Because ya 3mo, your daughter is not fine and she does have a problem..

Lets take our heads out of the sand and listen…

Sara: I saw the girl as she was crying and screaming, her mother was trying to force her out of the raksha and into the  clinic (which the pharmacy is part of)

The mother in all honesty told the doctor, my daughter has vaginal secretions

The doctor was astonished…"your daughter is 6 years old, this can not happen..I will examine here."

The girl was made to lie down and the doctor began examining her, it was not even a thorough examination because it was clear, the crime scene was evident. She was "open" and there were signs that she had been engaged in sexual intercourse for over a year.

The mother didn't know what happened to her daughter and the doctor could not tell her so she does not panic and leave.

"Madam does your girl play in the streets a lot," asked the doctor

"No, she doesn't leave the house," said the mother.

"Do you have youth in the house, who else is staying besides you and her father," asked the doctor, attempting to reveal the criminal, the rapist.

"Her uncles, my husband's two brothers are here with us, they are studying at the university," answered the mother, in all innocence.

…………

At that moment, I remembered the statistics that reveal that 80% of sexual harassment and rape cases happen within someone's house..I've heard about the woman who killed her brother for rapping her baby…and the girl who did …everything…with her uncle who lives with them.

The problem is not the fact that Sudanese people are kind and they open their houses to their families. The problem is that "family are supposed to be good", they are not supposed to subject you to this harassment…Don't they said that " العز اهل"

The problem is we don't supervise our youth and understand the problems that result from the oppression they live in…

The problem is that the mother of the child after she was taken to another doctor...switched off her phone and when the doctor called on the cellphone of the girl's father, he told her "my daughter is fine and she has no problem" and hung up.

The problem is..the girl will grow up and understand what has happened to her and will hate her family who failed to change her reality even when they knew.

Are her uncles still staying with them? Was she physically treated..at-least?

I wonder

Story Four: My friend did not die from a scorpion, she died from a doctor

When I was sitting with Dr. Sara, a doctor from the clinic passed by and listened to our conversation….. She then said that the ladies inside the clinic's lab are discussing similar stories. She asked us to come and went with her to listen.

We listened.

A young doctor who works at one of Omdurman's hospitals said that:

"We had an Ethiopian domestic worker for three years, all of a sudden, her health deteriorated and she became very tired, I took her to the clinic for some tests, there was nothing strange. Then one day, she came up to me and said: I want to test my urine". I was trying to understand so I kept asking her questions."

She said "I stopped getting my period and I wanted to know if I am pregnant

I got her the pregnancy test and we did it at home. It was positive, she was pregnant.

I told her, "your husband and children are in Ethiopia and you need a man…how did this happen, you are only here or at the other house with your friends."

She found out that the lady got to know the mechanic whose shop is a few steps away from their house and instead of going to the Ethiopian house to see her friends, she went to Thawra - Hara 29 and she stayed with him on weekends.

The doctor remembered: she came to me after that and asked to borrow money, 300 pounds to be exact , when I asked why, she said she wants an abortion.

I told her: where will u have it?

"There is an Ethiopian doctor with a Sudanese lady assistant in Om-bada," she told her.

"How did you find him?" I asked

"He did the surgery for "-----"," She answered

"Isn't she your friend who was stung by a scorpio and died"

"She was not stung by a scorpio, she died at his clinic" she answered.

The woman came to Sudan to work and send her family back a decent amount of money, this pregnancy simply ruins her plan…

1) she has no family to baby-sit this baby

2) how will she take back the baby to Ethiopia? 

She was ready to try her luck with the doctor in Ombada, women go to him for a way out of their problems, he lets them out of their misery once and for all…She could die..

The woman disappeared. 

The doctor spoke to her a few months ago and she told her  that she is now a tea-lady.

Is the baby with her? Is she raising him? Did she tell his father?

The doctor wanted to confront he "father".

"He could easily…deny it…deny her and deny everything, it will be his word against hers"

Sudan's shift from print to online newspapers

Bringing together journalists banned from writing in newspapers, Al-Taghyeer offers a chance for greater freedom online

In July 2011, while South Sudan was celebrating its independence, National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) officers walked into Ahjras Al-Hurriya, a daily newspaper, in Khartoum, and closed it down. They told the staff that since the newspaper has foreign, in this case South Sudanese, investors, it is prohibited from publishing. The newspaper’s license was taken away a month later, not giving it space to challenge the decision of closure.

Rasha Awad was the head of the political section at the newspaper at the time. A month later, she became a columnist in Al-Jareeda, an independent daily newspaper.  But that did not last long.

Awad was stopped from writing in early 2012.  While the NISS does not legally stop journalists from publishing, it issues directives to newspapers asking them to stop a certain journalist writing if they want to avoid confiscations of newspaper issues or even closure.

By the end of 2012, the list of journalists not allowed to write in Sudanese newspapers grew to at least fifteen.

Some of them found other professions, or took on editing roles in newspapers, some decided to take matters into their own hands and start their own newspaper, an electronic newspaper.

On World Press Freedom Day, Al-Taghyeer, an electronic newspaper, was launched. The newspaper’s name, which means “Change,” is enough to make the government uneasy, its byline reads “Our Bet is on the People,” and the newspaper’s writers, although known for their excellent reporting, are names that have been stopped from writing, detained and even tortured, or had lost their jobs due to newspapers closing down or cutting back on staff.

“Journalism should seek to create positive change in the society,” said Awad who is an editor at Al-Taghyeeradding that “the newspaper seeks to be professional in its reporting, but biased in shedding light on topics that are not covered in mainstream media.”

Awad said that in covering wars, corruption or human rights, they have to cover all sides in their reports, and this is where their professional abilities play a role; it is not about the topics they cover, it is about how they cover them.

The newspaper has attracted journalists such as Abu-Zar Al-Ameen who was detained and tortured for over a year, Khalid Fadul, who was banned from writing last year, veteran journalist and columnist, Faisal Mohamed Salih and Stella Getiano, a South Sudanese journalist and writer who was a staple in Sudanese newspapers before moving to Juba in 2012.

Now in its second week, the newspaper has covered the conflicts and political developments in Sudan, the displacement that will be caused by the dams in East and Central Sudan. It also distinguished itself by having a profile, a gender and a youth section, which are the kind of sections disappearing from other newspapers.

Salah Ammar who is in charge of the newspaper’s youth section said that it seeks to publish stories that touch on their readers’ concerns.

“85% of our readers so far are from Khartoum, although we think that the parameter of Khartoum could include the states that are bordering Khartoum. We also have an 80% readership in the 23-34 age-group on Facebook,” he told Doha Centre for Media Freedom.

Ammar added that although stories that are focused on one region or a state outside Khartoum are very difficult to research and write, they usually have low readership.

“In all cases, we are focused on bringing in the stories of Sudan’s periphery because they are important although the readers want national stories not local stories,” added Ammar who wrote an exclusive investigate piece citing that 150,000 face displacement in the states of Kassala and Gedarif in East Sudan due to dams.

Al-Taghyeer took six months to get up and running; the website was designed, the authors were attracted and many meetings took place to discuss the editorial line of the newspaper as well as to discuss the myriad of security problems that the newspaper could face.

“From the beginning, we decided that our articles will be professional and accurate to avoid any legal hurdles, but, if we face any other troubles, we will pursue peaceful advocacy like we always do,” said Awad.

Discouraging Experiences

The early 2000s saw an increase in online Sudanese newspapers. The website Sudanese-Online was already popular when two new online newspapers, Sudanile and Al-Nilin came into the picture in 2000 and 2001 respectively.

In 2003, a non-profit English-language newspaper called Sudan Tribune was launched from France. Then came Hurriyat and Al-Rakoba which were quickly branded as “opposition” newspapers.

Although they were already familiar with the problems faced by online newspapers from financial hurdles to harassment to blocking by the National Telecommunications Corporation (NTC), the staff of Al-Taghyeer held discussions with other electronic newspapers.

“We found the experience of Sudanile the most relevant to us because it is based in Sudan while the other websites are based abroad,” said Awad.

In a cafe in Khartoum, Tariq Al-Gizouli, the founder and editor-in-chief of Sudanile spoke about his frustrating experience in running one of Sudan’s top online newspapers, solely due to financial pressures and lack of advertisements.

“We started with a staff of 15, but slowly, people left due to lack of revenue. People think Sudanile is an institution, in fact Sudanile has one employee - myself,” said Al-Gizouli adding that every time he pursues an advertiser and manages to get advertisement, they pull out due to pressure from authorities.

Sudanile is the embodiment of challenge; Al-Gizouli uses personal resources to keep it moving and the end result is a balanced newspaper that attracts some of the biggest names in Sudanese journalism.

“Because I live in Sudan, I have a specific legal position, so I go through all articles for accuracy because I am directly responsible for the content. Sometimes I feel that if I leave, I will have more freedom to runSudanile, in a less stressful environment,” said Al-Gizouli who still gets summoned by NISS and receives messages to remove content.

Sudanile along with Hurriyat and Al-Rakoba have been subjected to hacking and even blocking. Sudanile has been hacked nine times, and on certain occasions, the hackers managed to close the website down for a number of days.

In October 2011, hackers entered Sudanile’s website through Al-Gizouli’s Facebook account. Calling themselves the “Sudan Cyber Army,” the hackers put the logo of the Republic of Sudan on the website and damaged many files, targeting the articles of specific authors.

When Al-Gizouli went to the electronic crimes unit in Khartoum North and to the NTC, he was told the website is a “.com” and not “.sd”, in other words, the NTC could only track hackers if the website was locally-hosted.

“Things escalated when the hacker hacked the server of my host in the US and my host sent me the address and phone number of the building where the hacking took place,” recalled Al-Gizouli.

His case came to a dead-end and he was told to stop pursuing it, but the hackers learned their lesson. Next time, in 2012, the website was hacked from India and Ukraine making Al-Gizouli even more confused about pursuing legal procedures.

Why the online crackdown?

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) estimates that 10% of the population in Sudan had internet access by December 2011. However, this statistics does not take into account the 26.3 million cell-phone subscriptions out of a population of 34 million.

Daily internet rates are as low as 1 SDG ($0.17) a day, enabling students and youth to access the internet from their phone.

Following the closures of newspapers such as Al-Midan, the Communist Party’s Mouthpiece, Rai Al-Shab, the mouthpiece of the Popular Congress Party as well as the independent Ahjras Al-Hurriya, and Al-Tayar and the long-term suspension of Alwan and Al-Jareeda, journalists had no choice but to enter the digital age quickly, hoping that their traditional readers would cyber-locate them and that they would be able to attract youth readers.

In 2012, the editor-in-chief and managing editor of Hurriyat, El-Hag Warrag and Abdel-Moniem Suleiman were awarded the Oxfam Nobin/PEN award for persecuted writers who continue working.

“Our plan of action is if we face security issues, we will not compromise on our editorial line,” Awad told DCMF.

Al-Gizouli also said that he is not planning to compromise, even when different bodies tempt him with steady advertisements if he censors the published articles.

First Published- http://www.dc4mf.org/en/node/3740