Sudanese security officer slammed for remarks on Islamic Shari’ah law
March 15, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – A senior Sudanese security officer has been facing a barrage of criticism after he suggested in a radio interview last week that the government may repeal Islamic Shari’ah laws if other political parties agreed to it, in a case highlighting the sensitivity surrounding the issue of Islamic laws in the predominantly Muslim society of northern Sudan.
A host of Islamist writers and pro-government stalwarts unsheathed their pens in the local press to vilify Hassab Allah for his statements. The campaign further escalated when the presidential adviser and head of Sudan’s Islamic Jurisprudence Council, Ahmad Ali al-Imam, joined Hassab Allah’s detractors.
Al-Imam said that the officer’s statements were antithetical to the government’s avowed commitment to Shari’ah laws as declared by the President Al-Bashir.
“These statements reflect negatively on the credibility of the Inqaz [the original alias of President Al-Bashir’s government]…whoever delivers such statement should be held accountable on individual basis,” Al-Imam said.
Sudan’s president Omar Al-Bashir declared in December of last year that the country would amend its constitution to transform itself into an Islamic state following the secession of the predominantly-Christian south which voted to split from the north in a referendum later in January.
The Association of Muslim Scholars, which is the state’s official clerical authority, also issued a statement strongly criticizing the statements of Hassab Allah and calling him “Hassab of the devil.”
Hassab Allah, who appeared this week in a press conference saying his statements were “wrenched out of context”, has been serving in the security and intelligence dockets since the current Islamist government of President Al-Bashir seized power in a military coup in 1989.
He was closely involved in coordinating the extradition of the Venezuelan militant known as Carlos the Jackal in 1994 from Sudan to France where he also served for two years as a diplomat in the late 1990s. He was also involved in secret cooperation with American Intelligence CIA in the past.
On the other hand, the Presidential Security Consultancy which is directed by Sudan’s former intelligence Chief Salah Gosh issued a statement reacting to the criticism against its secretary-general. It said that the statements of its secretary-general were not accurately reported and that the real meaning was the impossibility of repealing Islamic laws.
(ST)