SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: New York Times - Sudan Will Scrap Alcohol and Apostasy Laws, and End Flogging
The New York Times (NYT) report that Sudan will allow non-Muslims to consume alcohol, “scrap its apostasy law” and abolish the use of public flogging as a punishment as the transitional government “eases decades of strict Islamist policies.”
David Kiwuwa, director of the Centre for Advanced International Studies at the University of Nottingham said the repeal is “seen as broadening personal freedoms and is a sharp departure from the previous prohibitive regime.”
Ahmed Soliman, a research fellow at British foreign-policy research institute Chatham House, said that while the transitional government has “demonstrated its intent to keep equal citizenship at the forefront of the political transition, including by addressing issues of gender and religious freedoms,” more needs to be done to change long-held cultural practices, citing “division” over the reforms and a “strong backlash by conservative religious and political figures who see the changes as an attack on Islam and morality.”