"An 18-year-old pregnant Ethiopian woman who was the victim of a brutal gang-rape last August in Omdurman has been sleeping on the concrete floor of a police cell since her arrest on 17 January, advocacy group, the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA), said in a public statement on Tuesday...
The attack was filmed by one of the participants and later circulated on social media. SIHA said the woman, who is married and was about three months pregnant at the time of the attack, decided not to report the rape out of fear after her attackers threatened further violence. The woman was detained last month under Articles 153 and 154 of Sudan's criminal code, pertaining to the making and distribution of indecent material and indecent behaviour...
[R]epeated attempts by legal representatives to have her bail application heard have been refused on the grounds that the investigation is still ongoing. An application to the attorney-general submitted on behalf of the victim in order to arrange a meeting to file a rape case against the perpetrators has also been declined...The case has highlighted the racial prejudices that exist in Sudan against Ethiopian migrants, with the victim publicly portrayed as a promiscuous woman and willing participant in her attack...
The report produced by Canada's Nobel Women's Initiative in partnership with the International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict, described the situation faced by survivors of rape and sexual violence in Sudan as 'dire', with victims routinely threatened, jailed and denied medical treatment. According to the report, one of the most daunting challenges facing rape survivors in Sudan is the fact that the burden of proof often rests with the victim. Those that do come forward to report their rape risk being accused of adultery, an offence punishable by flogging or death by stoning if the woman is married."