Fernanda de Paiva Tomás (8 November 1928 – 15 September 1984) was a member of the Portuguese Communist Party who spent close to a decade as a political prisoner, from 1961 to 1970, under the authoritarian Estado Novo regime.

Maria Fernanda de Paiva Tomás was born on 8 November 1928, in Mortágua, in the Viseu district of Portugal.

[1][2] Paiva Tomás was detained by the police twice as a student for taking part in anti-war demonstrations, the first time when she went to put flowers on a World War I memorial.

[1][2][3] Paiva Tomás was the author of one of thirteen letters included in a manifesto sent clandestinely from the prison in May 1961 and directed to "women's and democratic organizations in the whole world", in which torture was denounced and the conditions under which opponents of the Estado Novo regime were held were criticised.

Gandra had been asked to go there to set up a national health service for Angola prior to its independence and Paiva Tomás worked in the Ministry of Education.