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| Africa Horn |
| Sudans Bashir warns alcohol drinkers face lash |
| 2010-03-26 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir warned on Thursday that making, selling or consuming alcoholic drinks will be punishable by the lash under the country's Islamic laws. Cheese. Having to live someplace like Sudan and not even being able to drown your sorrows... "Whoever makes, drinks or sells alcoholic drinks in Khartoum will be whipped, regardless of what the United Nations or human rights groups have to say about it," said Bashir, who is seeking re-election next month. His comments came in a speech in the capital's suburb of Um Dawaban, a stronghold of the Sufi Qadariyaa movement. Under Sudan's Islamic Sharia law, consumption or sale of alcohol is punishable with 40 lashes. The president, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court to face charges of war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region, has thrown himself into a nationwide campaign tour ahead of elections due to start next month. Alcohol is banned in Muslim north Sudan and whipping is a common punishment for anyone caught drinking, brewing or selling it. Rights groups have complained about lashing sentences handed out against women caught brewing alcohol in Khartoum, many of them from the non-Muslim south. A peace agreement between Sudan's predominantly Muslim north and the largely Christian south makes special provision for Christians in the semi-autonomous south. Shops in Khartoum do not sell alcohol, but rural women who have moved to the capital make an alcoholic concoction out of dates. Last year Nigerian footballer Stephen Worgu, star player for Sudan's premier league al-Merreikh club, was sentenced to 40 lashes for drinking alcohol. He appealed, but there has been no further announcement about his case. Sudan's legislative, regional and presidential elections, scheduled for April 11-13, are a key part of the 2005 peace accord which ended two decades of civil war between the north and south. |
| Posted by:Fred |