Sudan’s Bashir says no backing from Islamic Shari’a law

August 10, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir pledged conformance to the Islamic Shari’a law in his country.

“Whoever thinks that the Ingaz [1989 Salvation revolution] will forsake religion is disillusioned” Al-Bashir told a rally in Ed-Damer town, South of Khartoum.

Al-Bashir said that his government’s oath to its martyrs is to “preserve the Shari’a law”. “We will not break our oath,” he said.

The remarks by the Sudanese president come at a time when international attention is turned to the case of a female journalist in Khartoum who faces up to 40 lashes as punishment under Islamic law for wearing “clothing causing harassment to the public sentiments,”.

The journalist, Lubna Hussein, who was wearing trousers at the time she was caught, said the law is an insult to Sudanese women and she wants it repealed.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy vowed in a public letter he wrote in response to a query from the leader of the French Communist Party, Marie-George Buffet, to support Hussein’s case, praising her courage.

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon also expressed “concern” over Hussein’s case.

Sudanese officials have criticized the media coverage of the case accusing unspecified parties of using it for political reasons.

(ST)