Sudanese women demand abolition of death by stoning for adultery

By Mohammed Amin

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AA) – Dozens of Sudanese women demonstrated in the capital Khartoum on Wednesday to demand an end to the stoning sentence for adultery.

Protesters waved banners condemning article 146 of Sudan’s constitution, which allows the death by stoning for adultery if committed by a married woman, according to an Anadolu Agency reporter.

“The death by stoning is an inhumane punishment that must be abolished,” Noon Kashkoosh, a lawyer, told Anadolu Agency.

Flogging is still handed out as a punishment by Sudanese courts.

In June, a Sudanese woman was arrested by police in Sudan’s White Nile state and sentenced to death by stoning for adultery.

“We demand the abolition of all laws that support violence against women, including those related to public order and indecent dress and other legislations that oppress women,” Kashkoosh said.

Campaigners accuse the ruling military of seeking to take Sudan back to what they described the era of former President Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted in 2019.

Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 2021 when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government and declared a state of emergency, a move decried by political forces as a “military coup”.