Sudan has approved wide-ranging amendments in its criminal laws that include repealing the death penalty for apostasy.
According to the 1991 Criminal Law brought by the ousted Omer al-Bashir government, the punishment for apostasy was stoning to death.
In a televised interview on Saturday, the Sudanese Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari said that the new laws have also permitted availably and the drinking of alcohol for the Sudanese Christians and has forbidden lashing as a punishment.
“We canceled the Article 126 of the Sudanese Criminal Law and have ensured religious freedom and the equality in citizenship and rule of law,” he said.
“All these changes are aiming at achieving equality in front of the laws. We have dropped all the articles that had led to any kind of discrimination. We ensure our people that the legal reformation will continue until we drop all the laws violating the human rights in Sudan,” he stressed.
The minister also confirmed that the new laws have also banned the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM).
The death sentence has been reserved only in the cases of murder and other heinous crimes calling for retribution.
The minister further pointed out that the government is currently working to reform other legal provisions to incorporate them in a constitutional declaration.
He said that his ministry is working to make new personal law that will drop all the discriminatory provisions against the women and children.
He said that a commission to study laws and recommend their reforms will be set up next week.
