The Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights advocate Tawakkol Karman has mourned passing of Sudan’s veteran communist and female leader Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim. 

The political Sudanese activist died at the age of 84 in London on Saturday morning.  

The passing of Fatima Ibrahim is a great loss as she was an extraordinary woman with a strong voice against despotic tyrants, who said no to ignorance and the forces of reaction, wrote Karman on social media.

“Throughout decades-long struggle, Fatima Ibrahim along with her Sudanese female companions was an inspiring role model for Arab women who have become aware that their rights are part of broader human rights and that their freedom lies in the freedom of society,” she added. 

Karman expressed her deepest condolences to the family of the late deceased and her fans in Sudan and over the world.

As the first Sudanese woman, Fatima Ibrahim became a member of parliament in 1965 following the collapse of the Abud regime in the country. 

The former Sudanese parliamentarian participated in several regional and international conferences and led a number of them. 

In 1991 Fatima was elected President of the Women's International Democratic Federation, as the first Arab-Muslim woman ever elected to this position. 

In 1993, she was awarded UN award for Outstanding Achievements in the Field of Human Rights. The following year she won the Ibn Rushd Prize for her struggle for women’s rights and social justice in Sudan and the greater Arab world.

Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim was the widow of the late Al-Shafei Ahmed al-Sheikh, one of the most prominent leaders of the Sudanese Communist Party. He was executed by Numiri’s regime over an alleged coup plot in 1971.

She was a member of the Central Committee of the Sudanese Communist Party for several sessions.