Bahjaa Abdelaa Abdelaa
Bahjaa Abdelaa Abdelaa was a 26 years old woman human rights defender and member of Women Revolutionary group, as well as a member of Darfur Collation of Women Human Rights Defenders (TMD). Established in 2018 the Women Revolutionary group is an organization advocating for women’s rights, gender equality and social justice, the group also support victims of rape and sexual violence in Darfur. The woman human rights defender was an economist graduated in 2020 at the Khartoum University.
The ongoing violence by government forces, pro-government militia groups and anti-government armed group forms the backdrop to continued harassment, arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detentions and alleged torture of human rights defenders (HRDs) by Sudanese military and security forces. Freedom of expression and freedom of association and assembly have been increasingly curtailed. In particular, NGO members, journalists and student activists have been targeted.
Human rights defenders are vulnerable to arbitrary arrest and detention by the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS). The 2010 National Security Act grants the NISS extensive powers to arrest and detain people up to four and a half months without judicial review, and with complete impunity when the detention is arbitrary. Human rights defenders have been held incommunicado, without access to legal representation, and family visits have been refused without reasons. Detained HRDs have been often held in NISS cells that fall outside the jurisdiction of prisons laws and regulations, where they have also suffered ill-treatment and torture.
