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Capital punishment in Sudan is legal under Article 27 of the Sudanese Criminal Act 1991. The Act is based on
Sharia law Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...
which prescribes both the death penalty and corporal punishment, such as amputation.
Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic ...
has moderate execution rates, ranking 8th overall in 2014 when compared to other countries that still continue the practice, after at least 29 executions were reported (although it is expected that over 100 occurred).


History

Even though Sudan's legal systems have been drawn from various other jurisdictions,
capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
has always existed in the country. During the twentieth century there were several changes to Sudanese law. In the early 1900s until 1974 the death penalty was active in a legal system based on Indian criminal law, which itself was influenced by Anglo-Saxon law. In 1974, during President Gaafar Nimeiry's time in office, large scale amendments to the penal code were carried out which included some elements of civil law. However, the civil law amendments were never integrated into the Sudanese penal code which caused a number limitations for the courts. After this failure the previous Indian influenced penal law was reinstated. The basis of the legal system continued its yoyo pattern when in 1983 the Nimeiry regime sought to promote the Muslim Brotherhood's version of Sharia law. Nimeiry's office revised a number of national laws to reflect this, including the penal code, only to have it repealed two years later and the 1974 criminal code restored once more. In 1991 the 1974 penal code was replaced for a second time by the 1991 Criminal Code which was still in use . By that time President Omar Al-Bashir had come to power after a 1989 coup, led by the fundamentalist National Islamic Front (NIF). The reformations made by the Al-Bashir government helped to promote Islamisation in the country. Though the identifier "criminal code" was chosen over "penal code" due to the fact the new laws included provisions which would promote care and rehabilitation, the government had no plans to follow growing international opinion against the death penalty and, to the contrary, further entrenched the practice. Rather than begin to draw back, the scope of the application of the penalty expanded following the introduction of the code. The 2012 periodic report of the government of Sudan to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights stated that Sudan saw no reason to abolish the death sentence.


Legislation


Crimes that attract capital punishment

* Crimes against the state such as espionage, instigation of war against the state and undermining constitutional order. * Crimes against body and soul. This includes murder and the instigation of a minor to commit suicide. *Crimes of honour, public morality and reputation. This includes;
adultery Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...
(which is punishable by
stoning Stoning, or lapidation, is a method of capital punishment where a group throws stones at a person until the subject dies from blunt trauma. It has been attested as a form of punishment for grave misdeeds since ancient times. The Torah and T ...
), rape if it also constitutes adultery or sodomy, incest and prostitution. Article (27)(1) of the 1991 Act states that: ''execution is either by hanging or stoning or in the same manner as the commitment of murder by the perpetrator, and may be as a
hudud ''Hudud'' (Arabic: ''Ḥudūd'', also transliterated ''hadud'', ''hudood''; plural of ''hadd'', ) is an Arabic word meaning "borders, boundaries, limits". In the religion of Islam it refers to punishments that under Islamic law ( sharīʿah) ar ...
punishment or in retribution or approximation, and may be with crucifixion'' Generally, however, the punishment is executed by hanging.


Capital punishment in practice


Procedural guarantees

For a person charged with a capital crime in Sudan there are a number of procedural guarantees they should receive: *Innocent until proven guilty *The person charged with the offence should not be forced to self incriminate or be made to take any oaths except under limited circumstances. *There is a right to appeal *The person charged has the right to medical care, to be safe from harm and to be able to contact a lawyer and their family *Bail. However Article 106 (1) states that "the detained for crimes punishable with the death penalty or an amputation shall not be released". These guarantees are only available at trial stage meaning that during the investigation period individuals may be dangerously exposed, particularly because torture (though illegal under Sudanese law) has been documented on numerous occasions.


Cases

The following cases demonstrate the kinds of actions that have led to recent episodes of capital punishment in the country. Although Sudan is a signatory to the U.N Convention on the Rights of the Child

until an amendment made in 2010, Sudan was still one of the few remaining countries whose death penalty extended to juveniles. One of the last juveniles to be killed by death penalty was Abdulrahman Zakaria Mohammed in May 2009. He had been found guilty of murder and robbery. The decision was decided based on two factors, as confirmed by the UN Special Rapporteur on independence of judges and lawyers; firstly, the prohibition of the death penalty for children did not extend to
hudud ''Hudud'' (Arabic: ''Ḥudūd'', also transliterated ''hadud'', ''hudood''; plural of ''hadd'', ) is an Arabic word meaning "borders, boundaries, limits". In the religion of Islam it refers to punishments that under Islamic law ( sharīʿah) ar ...
offences, and secondly the Court believed that because the definition of 'adult' in the Criminal Act was "any person whose puberty has been established by definite natural features and who has completed 15 years of age and whoever obtains 18 years of age shall be deemed an adult even if the features of puberty do not exist". Using this definition of adult, the Court determined that Abdulrahman could be treated as an adult, even though he was only 17 at the time he was arrested. Also in 2009, four children between the ages of 15 to 17 were sentenced to death after being found guilty of armed robbery. In 2007, two young women in their early 20s were sentenced to death by stoning for committing adultery under Article 146 (a) of the Criminal Act. The woman did not have legal representation nor assistance to help defend themselves.


Criticism

Criticism of capital punishment in Sudan usually centers on two rights protections: the protection to the right to life and the protection against cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment Cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (CIDT) is treatment of persons which is contrary to human rights or dignity, but is not classified as torture. It is forbidden by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 3 of the European Convention ...
or punishment. These rights are both recognized in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, ...
and the
African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (also known as the Banjul Charter) is an international human rights instrument that is intended to promote and protect human rights and basic freedoms in the African continent. It emerged under th ...
. There are a number of human rights violations that occur because of Sudanese law. For example, Article 126 (2) of the 1991 Criminal Act, which stipulates religious crimes that may result in capital sentencing, is a violation of the right to freedom of conscience and religious creed. Also, though the procedural guarantees are consistent with international standards, they are limited in practice and the lack of access to bail is evidence of this. Sima Samar, the Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Sudan has noted in the past that the lack of sufficient guarantees of a fair trial for the accused facing the death penalty demonstrates serious doubts about compliance.Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Sudan, Sima Samar to the Commission on Human Rights, E/CN.4/2006/111, 11 January 2006 at para 54.


See also

*
Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic ...
*
Use of capital punishment by country Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is a state-sanctioned practice of killing a person as a punishment for a crime. Historically, capital punishment has been used in almost every part of the world. Currently, the large majorit ...
*
Human rights in Sudan Sudan's human rights record has been widely condemned. Some human rights organizations have documented a variety of abuses and atrocities carried out by the Sudanese government over the past several years under the rule of Omar al-Bashir. The ...


References

{{Africa topic, Capital punishment in
Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic ...
Penal system in Sudan Human rights abuses in Sudan