Muslims on trial for apostasy in Sudan

A group of 27 Sudanese Muslims are standing trial in a Khartoum court accused of apostasy, risking the death penalty if they are convicted, their lawyer told AFP on Thursday.

The men are accused of taking the Koran as the sole source of religious legitimacy and rejecting other Islamic texts.

“The court in El Kalakla in southern Khartoum has started the trial of 27 defendants brought before it under Article 126 of Sudanese criminal law, apostasy from Islam,” defence lawyer Ahmed Ali Ahmed told AFP by telephone.

If convicted of apostasy, the defendants could face the death penalty under the Sharia Islamic law that has been in place in Sudan since 1983. They are also charged with disturbing the public order, Ahmed said.

The lawyer said that the police arrested five of the defendants on November 2 inside a market in the southern Khartoum neighbourhood of Mayo “when they were talking to people about their conviction in the belief in the Koran and how they don't recognise” other religious texts.

He said that the others were arrested the next day for the same reasons. The defendants are accused of belonging to a group that adheres strictly to the Koran and rejects the authority of the Sunna, the traditions of the Prophet Mohamed.

The trial of the 27 started last Sunday and went through four sessions during which the judge heard the investigators' case against the men before it adjourned on Wednesday. It will resume on December 8.

The Sunni sect believes in the verbally transmitted records of the teachings, deeds and sayings of the Prophet Muhamed, as registered by his followers. 

(News24.com)

Related:

Lawyers to challenge legality of apostasy in Sudan (16 October 2014)

Sudan Court confirms death penalty for pregnant mother refusing to leave Christian faith (15 May 2014)