Sudan’s Republican Party wants ban lifted

A large group of followers of the banned Republican Party, whose founder was hanged in 1985 by the former Sudanese regime, staged a protest on Monday in front of the Ministry of Justice in Khartoum. They demanded the party’s ban be lifted.

The supporters, along with politicians and civil society organisations, staged the protest at 10 am on Monday, to mark the anniversary of the execution of Mahmoud Mohamed Taha. Led by his daughter Asmaa Mahmoud Mohamed Taha, they handed a memorandum to the Minister of Justice that demands the laws that restrict political freedom be repealed and the party’s constitutional rights restored.

Ministry officials initially refused to receive the memorandum. Security forces present at the protest prevented the protestors from handing it over, and seized the copy that Taha was holding from her hands. She urged the protesters to keep calm and sit on the ground to show that their protest is peaceful. 

Republican Party supporters outside the Justice Ministry in Khartoum on Monday (ST Photo)

Former President Jaafar Nimeiry has Republican Party leader Taha publically hanged in Khartoum North in 1985, after he criticised the application of Islamic Sharia law in the country. He was convicted of apostasy. Monday’s memo pointed out that the Supreme Court overturned the death sentence for apostasy in its rule of 18 November 1986, rehabilitating Taha. Asmaa Taha stressed that “especially Article 126, [condemning] apostasy, is used in the repression of the opponents and backing of the Islamists’ rule in Sudan”.

The Republican Brotherhood, formed by Taha in the 1950s, known for its resistance to Islamic fundamentalism, still has numerous followers in the country. His followers have arranged peaceful sit-ins on 18 January each year. In January 2015, the Ministry of Culture cancelled the registration of the Mahmoud Mohamed Taha Centre in Omdurman, without citing reasons or relevant legislation.

Also on Monday, Asmaa Taha and the Sudan Women’s Solidarity Movement held a sit-in in downtown Khartoum in support of the victims in the West Darfur capital El Geneina. The protesters were eventually dispersed by security agents. “This sit-in will be followed by more,” Taha told Radio Dabanga yesterday.