07/13/2020

Sudan gets rid of apostasy laws

Human rights organization welcomes new legislative initiative (Press Release)

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) welcomes the fact that Sudan will get rid of a controversial apostasy paragraph in the country's penal code: "This is an important step towards equal treatment of different religions in Sudan. The controversial law – according to which the abandonment of the Muslim religion could be punished with death – was a remnant of the strict Islamization policy under dictator Omar Hassan al Bashir," explained Ulrich Delius, the STP's director, in Göttingen on Monday. Last weekend, Sudan's Transitional Council decided to abolish the apostasy paragraph without replacement and to introduce further far-reaching reforms – such as, for example, a law banning female genital mutilation. In addition, women's rights in society will be strengthened. Islamist preachers reacted angrily to the law reforms, calling for a fall of the government in order to "defend Allah's laws". 

The STP recalled the dramatic rescue of the young Christian woman Mariam Yahia Ibrahim, who was accused of apostasy and sentenced to death by stoning in May 2014. The daughter of a Muslim and an Ethiopian Orthodox was accused of having apostatized by marrying a Christian. Human rights organizations around the world had demanded the death sentence to be lifted, emphasizing that the she should be allowed to leave Sudan freely. The STP had joined the campaigns to prevent Mariam's stoning. As a consequence of the massive international protests, she was allowed to leave Sudan on board an Italian plane in July 2014. "Mariam's case shows how the Islamists in Sudan were able to instrumentalize the apostasy paragraph to intimidate Christians. Its abolition is an important step to more freedom of religion," Delius said.

After coming to power in 1989, Al Bashir had systematically promoted the Islamization of Sudanese society. Women were ousted from public life, and the apostasy paragraph – which came into force together with a new criminal law in 1991 – became an instrument of discrimination against members of other religious communities.