25 Sudanese Muslims charged with apostasy
A criminal court in Khartoum charged 25 Sudanese Muslims with apostasy on Thursday.
The police of El Nasir district in the southern part of the Sudanese capital held a group of 27 people on 2 and 3 November. They were organising a public event at a small mosque in the neighbouring Mayo district.
A criminal court in Khartoum charged 25 Sudanese Muslims with apostasy on Thursday.
The police of El Nasir district in the southern part of the Sudanese capital held a group of 27 people on 2 and 3 November. They were organising a public event at a small mosque in the neighbouring Mayo district.
The people detained, among them two imams and three children, belong to a group that adheres to the Holy Koran as the sole source of legitimacy and reject other religious texts such as the hadith, a collection of sayings by the Prophet Mohamed.
On Wednesday, the court judge questioned the 27 detained, in order to decide whether to charge them or not. The next day, 25 of them were charged with apostasy under Article 126 of the Sudanese Penal Code. If convicted, the defendants could face the death penalty according to the Muslim Sharia law imposed in Sudan in September 1983.
However, their defence lawyers stress the defendants' right to exercise their religion according to their beliefs, and demanded the hearing of the defence on Monday.
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