Sit Alnfor Ahmed Bakar
Sit Alnfor Ahmed Bakar was a woman human rights defender, nurse and leader in resistance committees in Alkadaro area north of Khartoum, Sudan. She was a community leader and mobilizer. Sit Alnfor Ahmed Bakar was also a volunteer nurse working during the revolution and was well-known for her work in Khartoum during the sit-in's, as she provided emergency medical treatment to thousands of injured protesters for over two months. Sit Alnfor Ahmed Bakar was a woman rights activist, social entrepreneur and artist. She used her art to open opportunities for young women to become economically independent. On 14 November 2021, at the age of 24, Sit Alnfor Ahmed Bakar was fatally shot by security forces during a peaceful protest in Bahry.
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.
