Youth movement remember assault of Safia Ishaq

The youth activist movement Girifna issued a statement yesterday, on the first anniversary of the rape and attack of one of their members, Safia Ishaq. Safia Ishaq was gang-raped by three members of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) after participation in a demonstration last year. The movement said elements of the security service began to follow Ishaq, before detaining and taking her to the security service headquarters. Girifna stated Ishaq was beaten and verbally abused before one of the security officers tried to lower her skirt. At this the girl screamed and was beaten until she was unconscious. The men proceeded to take turns at raping her. The statement said Safia Ishaq refused to stay silent and has documented her ordeal in a video freely available on the internet. She was the first young Sudanese female to talk publicly about the brutal assault at the hands of the security services, and is thought to be living currently outside of Sudan. Girifna call on ‘all Sudanese people to resist and expose all forms of abuses carried out by the regime in Khartoum.’ They also demand all political detainees be released immediately.