Women's groups have been campaigning for an easing of various Sudanese laws
Sudan scraps apostasy law and alcohol ban for non-Muslims
Source: BBC #TruthBomb2020
07/12/20
After more than 30 years of Islamist rule, Sudan has outlined wide-reaching reforms including allowing non-Muslims to drink alcohol, and scrapping the apostasy law and public flogging.
"We [will] drop all the laws violating the human rights in Sudan," Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari said.
A raft of new laws were passed last week but this is the first public explanation of their contents.
Sudan has also banned female genital mutilation (FGM).
Under the new laws, women no longer need permission from a male relative to travel with their children.
The reforms come after long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir was ousted last year following massive street protests.
The current government is an uneasy mixture of those groups which ousted Mr Bashir and his former allies in the military, who ultimately staged a coup against him.
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What is the new law on alcohol?
Non-Muslims are now allowed to consume alcohol in private, however the ban on Muslim drinking remains, Mr Abdulbari told state TV.
Non-Muslims could still be punished if they are caught drinking with Muslims, the Sudan Tribune reports him as saying.
He explained that the government was trying to safeguard the rights of the country's non-Muslims, who make up an estimated 3% of the population.
They are now allowed to drink, import and sell alcohol.
"We are keen to demolish any kind of discrimination that was enacted by the old regime and to move toward equality of citizenship and a democratic transformation," he said.
The laws were initially approved in April but the BBC's Mohamed Osman in Khartoum says they have only now taken effect.
Meriam Yehya Ibrahim Ishag told the judge: "I am a Christian and I never committed apostasy"
What about the other changes?
Until now, anyone convicted of renouncing Islam, or apostasy, could face the death penalty.
The best known case was of Meriam Yehya Ibrahim Ishag, a pregnant woman who was sentenced to be hanged after she married a Christian man in 2014.
She managed to flee the country but the apostasy law - targeting those deemed to have abandoned Islam - has remained on the statute books until now.
The declaration that someone was an apostate was "a threat to the security and safety of society," Mr Abdulbari said.
Under Mr Bashir, the morality police would often carry out public flogging for various misdemeanours but Mr Abdulbari said this punishment had now been abolished.
The latest changes come after a restrictive public order law that controlled how women acted and dressed in public was repealed in November.
The imposition of strict Islamist laws in the 1980s was a key factor in the long-running civil war which eventually led to independence for South Sudan, where the majority of people are Christian or follow traditional religions.
Sudan ratifies law criminalizing female genital mutilation
Source: PBS #TruthBomb2020
07/10/20
CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s ruling body ratified a law banning the widespread practice of female genital mutilation, the justice ministry announced Friday, handing the movement for women’s rights in the African country a long-sought victory. The Sovereign Council passed a set of sweeping amendments to the country’s criminal code late Thursday, including one that criminalized the deep-rooted practice. The draft law had been approved by the transitional government that came to power last year following the ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir. A U.N.-backed survey in 2014 estimated 87% of Sudanese women and girls between the ages of 15 and 49 have been subjected to the procedure. Most undergo an extreme form known as infibulation, which involves the removal and repositioning of the labia to narrow the vaginal opening. Anyone found guilty of performing the procedure will be sentenced to up to three years in prison, according to a copy of the new law obtained by The Associated Press. Female genital mutilation “degrades the dignity of women,” the justice ministry declared in its statement. Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok hailed the decision as “an important step in reforming the justice system.” The ratification achieved a decades-long goal of women’s rights advocates and represented a win for the country’s technocratic leaders, who have been struggling to push democratic changes and roll back al-Bashir’s legacy despite the persistent power of army generals in Sudan. Under Hamdok, women have been appointed to four government ministries. Last fall, authorities overturned unpopular Islamist laws passed under al-Bashir that dictated women’s dress and criminalized drinking alcohol. Another amendment adopted Thursday allows Sudanese mothers to travel with their children outside the country without permission from their spouses. During al-Bashir’s rule some Sudanese clerics said forms of female genital mutilation, or FGM, were religiously allowed, arguing that the only debate was over whether it was required or not. While many were elated by the the law’s long-awaited passing, rights groups warned that the practice remains deeply entrenched in the region’s conservative society and that enforcement poses a steep challenge. In neighboring Egypt, for example, where genital cutting was banned in 2008 and elevated to a felony in 2016, a government survey still found that nearly nine of every 10 Egyptian women had undergone the procedure. Other veteran activists questioned the timing of the ratification, saying the coronavirus pandemic puts them at a disadvantage since they cannot mobilize awareness campaigns or police training in a country under lockdown. “Currently there are fuel shortages and long daily power cuts as well as rising infections of COVID-19,” said Nahid Toubia, a leading Sudanese women’s health rights activist specializing in FGM. “Communication and people’s mobility are severely hampered. These are not the conditions where advocacy for legislating against FGM is a priority or even possible.” Still the move, both symbolic and consequential, stirred hopes for stronger protection of personal liberties as Sudan moves toward democratic elections scheduled for 2022. “Legal reviews and amendments will continue,” Hamdok pledged, “until we address all distortions in the legal systems in Sudan.”
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