Sudan introduces sweeping reforms, allows non-Muslims to drink alcohol, decriminalizes apostasy, among others

Posted by admin Africa & World Politics, Headlines, NNP News Monday, July 13th, 2020

(NNP) Sudan has embarked on a series of reforms since the overthrow of the despot Omar Al Bashir last year, that include allowing non-Muslims to drink alcohol, giving women more freedom including the right to travel without male permission, and the banning of female genital mutilation. The reforms also allow women to participate in sports and dress modestly, all hitherto forbidden under strict Islamic law.

In measures announced by the country’s Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari on state television, he noted that non-Muslims will no longer be criminalized for drinking alcohol in private. Perhaps, one of the most notable reforms is the decriminalization of apostasy where those who renounce Islam are either subjected to death or punished with heavy prison term.

In 1983, then military President Jaafar Nimeiri imposed harsh Islamic law on a multi-religious society that included current-day independent South Sudan which is predominantly Christian. Rights of Christians were violated as they were prosecuted under Sharia law against their faith.

The harsh measures introduced by the military regime of Nimeiri added fuel to the fight for independence leading to a UN referendum that eventually led to independence in 2011. Christians constitute three percent of the country’s population and they mainly live in the capital of Khartoum and near the Nuba mountains close to South Sudan.

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