Girifna, which translates from Arabic as “we are fed up” (with war, corruption, dictatorship, injustice, and discrimination against minorities), is a grassroots movement founded by a group of university students in October of 2009 to create a pro-democracy movement that could unite Sudanese people and the opposition parties to defeat the National Congress Party (NCP) in the 2010 general election.
They just launched a new campaign on Twitter: #FreeKordofanWomen and we invite you to support them: South Kordofan women detainees have been in detention since November 2012 with no trials.
In November 2012, security forces and military intelligence of South Kordofan state arrested more than 30 women in Kadugli and Deleng. The ages of these women varied, and so did their professions. They were mothers, housewives, and employees in fields such as education, health, radio and the civil service.
Once again, the government exercised a media blackout on these arrests. In November 2012, the security and military intelligence forces in Kadugli transferred some of them to the central prison. No official government statement was made about the reasons for their arrest until now, but the names of more than 30 women detained (including 4 with their infants) were leaked out last year, and subsequent news suggested the number of detainees was actually more than 70.
In an attempt by the government to rob these detainees of their rights, none of them was officially charged. They were also deprived from their right to contact their families or choose lawyers to defend them.
Such an arrest, without trial, is against the law and nothing but an arbitrary detention under circumstances no one outside knows much about.
The release of 14 women detainees comes with restrictive terms.
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