• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Monday, December 11, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home World

Sudan Allows Alcohol Consumption, Decriminalizes Leaving Islam

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
07/13/20
in World
Sudanese protesters rally outside the army complex in Sudan’s capital Khartoum on April 18, 2019

Sudanese protesters rally outside the army complex in Sudan’s capital Khartoum. Photo: AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Sudan is to allow non-Muslims to drink alcohol for the first time in decades and has scrapped laws that had made leaving Islam potentially punishable by death, the justice minister said.

The raft of amendments comes a year after Islamist dictator Omar al-Bashir was toppled following mass protests against his three-decade rule.

Sudan now “allows non-Muslims to consume alcohol on the condition it doesn’t disturb the peace and they don’t do so in public,” Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari said in an interview Saturday evening on state television.

While Islamic tradition forbids the faithful from drinking, Muslim-majority Sudan has a significant Christian minority.

Abdulbari, part of a transitional government that took power after Bashir’s ouster, also announced that converting from Islam to another religion would be decriminalized.

“No one has the right to accuse any person or group of being an infidel… this threatens the safety and security of society and leads to revenge killings,” he said.

Many Muslim-majority countries apply Islamic laws making leaving the faith punishable by death.

Sudan’s Transition Period

Bashir, who had enforced such rules after coming to power in an Islamist-backed 1989 coup, was toppled by the army following mass protests over the country’s worsening economic crisis.

Sudan’s transitional government, installed under a deal between protest leaders and the generals who took charge after Bashir’s ouster, has pursued a string of reforms including on Friday criminalizing female genital mutilation.

A constitution adopted for the three-year transition period omits mention of Islam as a defining characteristic of the state.

Official figures say Christians represent only three percent of Sudan’s 40 million inhabitants, although Christian leaders say the real figure is much higher.

Human rights groups regularly condemned the toppled autocrat’s treatment of non-Muslims especially the Christian minority.

Copts, Catholics, Anglicans, and a number of other denominations are present in the country but Bashir’s Islamist regime had driven many of them underground.

In 2014 a Sudanese woman was sentenced to death for converting from Islam to Christianity, triggering an international outcry.

Her conviction was later quashed after a global campaign to free her, and she escaped to the United States.

ShareTweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

Children and families flee their neighbourhoods amid fighting in Khartoum, Sudan
World

‘Frighteningly Large Number of Children’ Killed in Sudan: UN

by Staff Writer
May 5, 2023
Sudan clashes
World

Death Toll in Sudan’s Ethnic Clashes Rises to 13: UN

by Staff Writer
October 17, 2022
Sudan coup protest
Democracy at Risk

Thousands Rally in Sudan Against Coup, Teargas Fired

by Staff Writer
November 17, 2021
Sudan coup
World

African Union Suspends Sudan Over Military Coup

by Staff Writer
October 27, 2021
Over 40,000 Ethiopians Have Fled to Sudan, UN Says
World

Over 40,000 Ethiopians Have Fled to Sudan, UN Says

by Staff Writer
November 23, 2020
Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok (L) and Sovereign Council Chair Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Burhan.
Middle East

Israel-Sudan Deal Welcomed as Palestinians Cry Foul

by Staff Writer
October 23, 2020
Next Post
Fourth Night of Anti-Government Protests in Bulgaria

Fourth Night of Anti-Government Protests in Bulgaria

Polish President Andrzej Duda

Populist President Duda Wins Re-Election in Poland

Please login to join discussion

Recommended

Policemen stand next to demonstrators, among them a protester (background, C) holding the flag of Iraq, at Mynttorget Square in Stockholm, Sweden

Denmark’s Parliament Adopts Law Banning Koran Burnings

December 8, 2023
A giant crawler machine used to dredge the seabed for diamonds

Norway to Allow Deep-Sea Mining

December 5, 2023
Dutch politician Geert Wilders

Xenophobia in the Netherlands? Unpacking the PVV’s Surprising Success

November 28, 2023
Ukraine war

NATO Chief Says ‘No Alternative’ to Helping Ukraine Stop Putin

November 27, 2023
Migrants stranded at the Finland border

Russia Warns of a ‘Crisis’ at Arctic Border With Finland

November 22, 2023
People march against climate change in Bordeaux, southwestern France, on October 13, 2018.

Earth to Warm Up to 2.9C Even With Current Climate Pledges: UN

November 20, 2023

Opinion

Dutch politician Geert Wilders

Xenophobia in the Netherlands? Unpacking the PVV’s Surprising Success

November 28, 2023
Afghan refugees

The Blessed and Cursed Randomness of Our Lives

October 25, 2023
Joe Biden

The ‘Polycrisis’ Challenge: Biden’s Vision for Global Problem-Solving

September 26, 2023
Pro-Trump protester in front of Capitol Hill.

The Ominous (and Irresponsible) Chatter of a Civil War 

September 4, 2023
A bamboo-based design raises family homes safely above water levels to cope with raising water levels in Bangladesh.

The West Owes Climate Refugees Reparations Now

August 14, 2023
President Donald Trump in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House.

Boxing Day Comes to South Florida

July 5, 2023
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post