(Khartoum) A judge has ordered the killing of a young Sudanese woman accused of adultery. This sentence will probably be canceled on appeal, but it nevertheless illustrates the return of the fierce repression orchestrated by the Islamists since the coup.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Judge Haroun Adam, of the criminal court in Kosti, about 300 kilometers south of the capital, ordered the stoning of Shayma* on June 26. A sentence so severe that it has never been applied in Sudan, even during the 30 years of military-Islamic dictatorship, and that everyone agrees to link it to the October 25 coup that is accompanied by a strong comeback of the Islamists of the old regime.
“The soldiers are supported by the Islamists and the National Congress Party of ex-president Omar al-Bashir. They are the ones who hold the real power,” summarizes Mossaad Ali, director of the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies. The putschists continue to sweep away the timid advances made by the transitional government which ruled the country following Bashir’s ouster. In 2021, this large East African country nevertheless ratified the United Nations conventions against torture and enforced disappearances.
A murderous cousin
But the military-civilian tandem at the helm of the state during the two years of transition has never removed stoning from the Penal Code.
This punishment is still enshrined in law. It is dangerous, because it could be applied in rural areas that are not in the spotlight, no one would know. We must therefore push to abolish it and close the door to such punishment.
Mossaad Ali, Director of the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies
Stoning is one of the penalties for adultery. This is precisely what Shayma is accused of. For good reason, her cousin surprised the young woman, aged just 20, in the arms of another man, a situation that hardly surprises Sulima Ishaq, president of the government unit to combat violence against women. and children. “Most women who are married very young don’t have a say. They are subject to the choice of their family”, underlines the activist. Moreover, Shayma wishes to divorce and no longer lives with her husband.
PHOTO AUGUSTINE PASSILLY, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Activist Sulima Ishaq notes an increase in violence against women since the coup.
However, this liaison quickly left the private sphere. The voyeur cousin indeed murdered Shayma’s lover, who confessed to his own extramarital affair. Enough to encourage a zealous police officer to open an investigation against him.
A blank check for violence against women
The judgment on appeal should however cancel the required sentence, because the accused has the possibility of reconsidering these confessions and four different people must testify to the allegedly prohibited sexual relationship, which is impossible, details Sulima Ishaq.
The mere pronunciation of this sentence is no less worrying. “The fanatics want to reconnect with their power and continue to use Islam to terrorize the population as they have done for 30 years,” warns Sulima Ishaq. The proliferation of abuses perpetrated on women, including beatings on the sidelines of pro-democracy demonstrations, rapes and arbitrary arrests, thus turns the page on the few meager achievements towards gender equality in the aftermath of the revolution.
“When some Sudanese see a man in uniform beating a woman in the street, they consider it normal to in turn beat their wife, their sister, their daughter or their neighbour. This provides a legal framework to violate women’s rights and deprive them of their freedom,” adds the women’s rights defender. All the reforms supposed to improve the protection of women and children have been suspended since the putsch.
PHOTO AUGUSTINE PASSILLY, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Lawyer Elshareef Ali Mohammed is one of the jurists who are mobilizing to prevent stoning from being applied.
Again, the Islamists are singled out. “These nostalgic for the dictatorship do not accept the disappearance of their story”, explains Elshareef Ali Mohammed, of the NGO Sudanese Human Rights Initiative. For this lawyer specializing in religious freedom, Shayma’s case illustrates both “an absence of judicial independence, a national narrative that remains based on Sharia law, the non-application of international human rights standards and absolute control of men in this very patriarchal society”.
The Court of Appeal is not expected to rule for three months. In the meantime, Shayma continues to fear the worst. At the same time, the military junta is steadily increasing its toll. At least 115 “martyrs” fell under his bullets for demanding the restoration of a civilian government.
* We choose not to reveal his name for security reasons.