Late feminist activist family condemns expulsion of Sudanese PM from funeral

The family of the deceased Sudanese activist Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim have issued a statement commending the hecklers that forced the Sudanese Prime Minister, Hassan Bakri Salah, and other government officials to be expelled from the funeral yesterday in Omdurman, Khartoum.

The statement said that the family had welcomed the direct involvement of the Presidency in the funeral arrangements in recognition of deceased’s role and service to the nation and had opened lines of communication with the state governors.

They expressed shock that the Sudanese prime minister and the governor of Khartoum had been treated in such a fashion and described the two men, in particular, as having a “personal relationship” with the deceased and members of her family.

Read: Friends and foes unite to honour Sudan’s first female MP

The statement referred the chanting and heckling of the crowd as “inappropriate” and “contrary to Sudanese traditions and customs”, and issued a formal apology to the officials who had been forced to leave.

Video footage widely circulated on social media shows the prime minister and other officials being heckled by crowds shouting “We want freedom. We want democracy!”

Thousands took part in the funeral of the late communist feminist leader who died in London last Saturday and was returned to Sudan yesterday for her burial. Ibrahim was the recipient of numerous awards – from the UN and other international organisations – for her work promoting feminism.

Related: Prominent Sudanese feminist passes away