Christian Solidarity Worldwide has welcomed a statement by a member of the transitional government of Sudan in which he claimed Sudan would be removing the death penalty for apostasy.
According to a CSW press release, on 8 March Mohamed Hassan Arabi, a member of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) Coordination Council, told the Sudan Tribune that the death penalty would be removed under the Miscellaneous Amendments Bill of 2020 and replaced with a disposition making it a criminal offence to accuse someone of apostasy.
CSW went on to report that article 126 of Sudan’s 1991 Criminal Code stipulates that those found guilty of apostasy are to be sentenced to death. The article has historically been used to target religious minorities and restrict freedom of expression. In May 2014 Meriam Ibrahim was sentenced to death by hanging for apostasy by the Public Order Court in El Haj Yousif, Khartoum. A court of appeal overturned the original ruling in June 2014.
The Criminal Code also contains several other provisions which limit personal freedoms and criminalise blasphemy. There was no indication that these aspects of the Criminal Code were due to be repealed.
SOURCE: Assist News
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