Urgent Action

URGENT APPEAL TO STOP THE KILLING OF A CHRISTIAN WOMAN BY SHARI'A LAW AND GOVERNMENT POLITICAL ABUSE

January 4, 2002

To: Ms. Mary Robinson, Human Rights High Commissioner (Geneva)
Ms. Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim, Sudanese Women's Union (Sudan)
The Massalit Advisory Council (Sudan)
National Democratic Alliance (Sudan)
Chief Justice (Khartoum)
Sudan Government (Khartoum)
The Governor of Darfur (Al-Fashir)

The Sudanese Victims of Torture Group (SVTG: December 2002) confirmed reliable information that the Government of Sudan has most recently applied hudud penalties in accordance with the Sudan Penal Code 1991. Muslim citizens were subjected to death penalty by hanging, as well as limbs’ amputation. Many of these cases were put on trial and sentenced under emergency law, which did not guarantee fair trial for the accused.

The SVTG confirmed the case of the Sudanese Christian woman, Abok Alfa Akok, who was sentenced by a criminal court at Nyala in the State of Southern Darfur with the hudud penalty of adultery, which is stoning to death. The trial of this Sudanese citizen under Shari’a law is a gross violation of international human rights norms that guarantees the right to a fair trial and prohibits religious persecution.

Although Shari’a law provides the accused with the option to plea non-guilty and is basically applied on Muslim citizens if rightly interpreted, the Sudanese emergency court did not adhere to the basic principles of criminal procedure for a fair trial. The court disregarded the Christian religion of the accused and her right to ask for trial under civil law, not Shari’a rule. These are legally wrongful acts judged by Muslim jurisprudential tradition especially the Hanifa Madhab and other influential schools of Shari'a jurisprudence. The Government of Sudan has no right to force its own version of Shari'a punishments on Muslim citizens, let alone the Sudanese Christians who have nothing to do with Shari'a.

The Sudan Human Rights Organization has repeatedly asked the Government of Sudan to abolish the Sudan Penal Code 1991 because it contradicts international human rights standards and applicable norms. For the majority Muslims of Sudan, the Sudan Penal Code 1991 is a primitive law that is equally abusive of Islam as a religion that firmly encourages the stoppage of the hudud implementation rather than application, according to the best Muslim jurisprudence and respectful Ijtihad (see the attached memorandum).

SHRO-Cairo firmly asks the Government of Sudan to stop the execution of the Sudanese Christian citizen Abok, and to recognize her right to a non-biased re-trial without any discrimination on the basis of race, gender, or religious belief in accordance with her own beliefs and indigenous tradition. The Government of Sudan must allow Abok to enjoy full access to legal consultation besides the right to appeal to a high judicial authority that respects with full consideration her religious beliefs and indigenous tradition - a judicial authority that does not put her on trial by Muslim law.

SHRO-Cairo is equally concerned for the heinous policy of the Government of Sudan towards the Muslim citizens of Darfur. The citizens of Darfur who were hanged to death as reported by the SVTG were subjected to unfair trials that basically aimed to terrorize the people of Darfur.

In the last few years, most of the non-Arab Muslim indigenous groups of Darfur were massively killed and expropriated of land and animal wealth. In 1999/2000, the Masalit Advisory Council accused the government of massive killings of the Masalit people, burning of villages, and other atrocious crimes that were all committed by the government-controlled Arab-militias under a permanent state of emergency law. These innocent citizens who were severely victimized by NIF-Arab militias included the Zagawa and Masalit large populations.

The failure of the central government to offer sufficient support to the local governors, especially those belonging to the Masalit of Southern Darfur, motivated Sudanese Arab-militias, as well as other neighboring groups, to commit more crimes to subdue the non-Arab people of Darfur.

The most recent application of hudud reflects the government’s policy to terrorize the largest majority of the people of Darfur who have been strongly opposed to the NIF rule.

SHRO-Cairo asks the Government of Sudan to stop all military action, emergency courts, and the other persecution policies in Darfur.

The abrogation of Sudan Penal Code 1991 is a must under the prevailing policy of Sudan Government to terrorize the population for political reason.

CC.

Sudanese Churches (Sudan)
SVTG
Arab Lawyers Union (Cairo)
Human Rights Watch (USA)
Amnesty International (UK)
Islamic Council (SPLM)
Sudan Human Rights Organization (London)
Sudan Human Rights Organization (Washington, DC)
Sudan Human Rights Organization Chapters
SHRO-Cairo Groups (Sudan)
Endowment for Democracy (USA)