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Sudan repeals law that allowed police to flog or execute women caught dancing or wearing trousers

Selling goods on the streets and mixing with men who are not husbands or relatives was also banned

Women's Correspondent

Monday 02 December 2019 14:26 GMT

Abdalla Hamdok, the country’s transitional prime minister, applauded the decision (EPA)

The Sudanese government has repealed controversial laws which gave police the powers to arrest or flog women caught dancing or wearing trousers.

A slew of public order laws which were used to control women’s conduct under the ex-president Omar al-Bashir have now been revoked.

Activities which were banned also included selling goods on the street, mixing with men who are not husbands or relatives, and leaving hair uncovered.

Wrongdoers faced arrest, flogging, fines, and in rare instances execution and stoning.

Abdalla Hamdok, the country’s transitional prime minister, applauded the decision on Twitter.

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

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1/12The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Khadija Saleh, 41, a political activist and blogger, poses for a photograph in Khartoum, Sudan. After six years abroad, Saleh returned to her home country when people took to the streets demanding change. She was at a sit-in near the defence ministry in Khartoum on 3 June when security forces stormed the site. The area had become a centre for anti-government protests. Saleh said she was beaten with sticks, and still wears bandages on her wounds. ‘I came back from a safer place because I want a better future for this country,’ she said.

Photos Reuters

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Awadiya Mahmoud Koko Ahmed, 60, is the head of Food and Tea Sellers Union. She said: ‘I went to see the sit-in area to check what is happening there. I served them free tea with the money my daughter gave me. And we made a kitchen as a group of union members. We prepared food every day. All the people were good. They called me “mom”. When I was in America, I saw that even animals had rights. If I was the president, I would make sure that there was justice. I would treat everyone equally.’

Reuters/Umit Bektas

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Duha Mohmed, 23, escaped the sit-in site at the beginning of the June raid, returning later to help the injured. The student said she was also motivated by a desire for a better life. ‘I don't want to wear headscarf, but it is not my choice. I want my right to wear what I want,’ she said.

Reuters/Umit Bektas

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Shems Osman, 32, is an employee at an international company. Osman studied psychology in Canada. She has Canadian citizenship but she chose to return to Sudan. She said: ‘In Sudan it is definitely different how women carry themselves and how they are treated, and I think this is because of our African culture more than our Arab culture. Sudanese women are just naturally strong. So, they are naturally on the frontline and they are naturally a part of revolution.’

Reuters/Umit Bektas

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Mai Atya, 27, is a musician. Atya said she was beaten during the raid. She said: ‘My main objective like many others is that we believe there should be a change; a good change in a good direction. I was at the sit-in area during the raid. I heard gun shots and ran away but when I jumped over a fence a Rapid Support Force (RSF) soldier caught us. They kept beating us again and again ... they think women should stay at home.’

Reuters/Umit Bektas

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Amel Tajeldin, 41, a housewife and mother of four. Tajeldin said she would take turns with her husband to watch the children so that she could go out to protest. ‘While it was his turn to look after the children, I took part in the demonstrations,’ she said. She used to teach songs to street children in a makeshift tent at the sit-in. On 3 June, members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces shouted at her and other protesters and told them to run, she said. ‘We ran. We were surrounded by soldiers and policemen,’ she said. Both her arms are now wrapped in bandages. ‘While we were running, they beat us. To protect my head, I used my hands. This is why my two arms are broken,’ she said. ‘The ones like us beaten by police were lucky, the ones beaten by RSF members were brutally injured.’

Reuters/Umit Bektas

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Nagda Mansour, 39, is a translator. Mansour was imprisoned for 75 days after attending a demonstration in December. She said it was difficult for many to accept the idea of negotiating with the military because of its leadership’s involvement in the war in Darfur. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), headed by the deputy leader of the council Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, are accused of committing atrocities in Darfur – charges officials have in the past denied. ‘The finalisation of an agreement with the military council remains the beginning not the end,’ said Mansour. ‘We as human rights defenders want to have a guarantee for transitional justice in Sudan.’

Reuters/Umit Bektas

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Hadia Hasaballah, 42, is a counsellor and political activist. Hasaballah works for an NGO dealing with the victims of the 3 June raid. She and her team are supporting more than 100 victims. ‘This regime thinks in a traditional way,’ she said. ‘They know that if they humiliate the women, they will humiliate the whole people... None of the Sudanese women will officially say that they were raped because of the stigma.’

Reuters/Umit Bektas

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Samra Siralkhatim, 21, is a student. During the June protests, Siralkhatim hid from the military in various people’s homes for five days. She said: ‘Sudanese are almost like refugees in their own country. During the June 3 raid night, we sought refuge from the military like we did in previous attacks. That time, they let us go into the defence ministry compound. But this time, the doors were closed during the raid. Security personnel were laughing and a member of the military behind the fence told us that the military was “taking a holiday”,’ she said.

Reuters/Umit Bektas

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Mahi Aba-Yazid, 35, is unemployed. Under President Omar al-Bashir’s rule, women’s lives were tightly controlled by men, even the way they dressed. Morality laws meant that a woman could be arrested for wearing trousers. For that reason, Aba-Yazid wore trousers while she called for change at the sit-in site. She believes she was beaten more because of this choice. ‘There was already a bullet in my arm. I was bleeding but they continued to beat me,’ she said.

Reuters/Umit Bektas

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Nahid Gabralla, 53, is a human rights activist. Gabralla said she was beaten with sticks and threatened with rape at the sit-in. ‘Sudan can be better,’ she said. ‘My daughter deserves to live in a nice country... We will fight for a democratic Sudan, real change and for our rights.’

Reuters/Umit Bektas

The women at the front of Sudan’s political protests

Manal Farah, 49, is a housewife. Farah lost her son, a 22-year-old university student, when security forces stormed the sit-in. She said he insisted on protesting even though she asked him to stay home. ‘The aim of the government is to convince mothers of revolutionaries to prevent their sons to join the revolution, but no matter what we say to them they will never stop before achieving their objectives,’ Farah said. ‘When he started in university, he started to ask why there is corruption in Sudan. He said there must be a change, a new Sudan ... I pray for my son’s dreams to come true.’

Reuters/Umit Bektas

He said: “The abolition of the Public Order Law by the transitional government reminds me of the image of the brave young woman stepping on the back of a young man helping her climb the wall during one of the protests.

“That moment was a seal of victory and a sign of the wellness – of a nation whose young men and women help each other crossover the lines of fire and who shall not be defeated.

“This law is notorious for being used as a tool of exploitation, humiliation and violation of rights. Many have used this law for financial and psychological exploitation. Along the way, a lot of women and youth endured confiscation of their belongings and unforgettable harm. I pay tribute to the women and youth of my country who have endured the atrocities that resulted from the implementation of this law.”

Campaigners in the country have hailed the move which also saw the transitional government disband the former ruling party.

Bashir, who had been in power since 1989, has been in detention since he was overthrown in April in the wake of widespread nationwide demonstrations which were spearheaded by women.

Demonstrations started in Sudan last December over the cost of bread tripling, cashless ATMs and cutbacks to fuel subsidies, among other things.

Amnesty International heaped praise on the decision to repeal restrictive laws in the country, which is now being headed up by a joint military and civilian council, but urged the government to overhaul other laws which curtail women’s freedom.

Seif Magango, the human rights organisation’s deputy director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes, said: “This is a big step forward for women’s rights in Sudan. The repeal of the public order laws was long overdue. Many women were arbitrarily arrested, beaten and deprived of their rights to freedom of association and expression under this discriminatory law.

“The transitional government must now ensure that the entire oppressive public order regime is abolished. This includes repealing the articles dictating women’s dress code that are still in the criminal law, disbanding the public order police and the dedicated courts, and abolishing flogging as a form of punishment."

A 2017 report by Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa and the Redress Trust branded the recently revoked laws as a combination of legal and moral rules “designed to exclude and intimidate women from actively participating in public life”.

Ahmed Kaballo, a Sudanese commentator living in the UK, said: “These laws were a tool to repress women’s rights and freedoms - but they were often selectively applied to crush women's activism in Sudan by security forces that were encouraged to crush political activism by any means necessary.

“They were also used by patriarchs to humiliate and exploit women who stepped out of line. So it's definitely a step forward that policy is being reversed but the next step is addressing the attitudes that allowed the laws to come into fruition in the first place.”

A defiant image of a young Sudanese woman standing on the roof of a car fervently leading chants at an anti-government protest went viral around the world last spring.

The photo, which was taken in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, rapidly became an emblem of resistance for Sudanese women in the country which has long been known for its systematic repression of women.

Alaa Salah, the 22-year-old woman in the photo, can be seen raising her arm as she leads the crowd in a chant and they repeat her words back to her.

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