Sudan Dooms 5 Foes of Islamic Law Code
A criminal court sentenced five men to death Tuesday for opposing the Islamic law system of Sharia, the official Sudanese news agency reported.
The court here said the sentences will be lifted if the defendants repent before the punishment is confirmed by an appeals court and by President Jaafar Numeiri.
The defendants, led by Mahmoud Mohammed Taha, head of the illegal Republican Brothers Party, were accused of disturbing public security, provoking opposition to the government and re-establishing a banned political organization.
Taha spent almost all of last year in prison but was freed in mid-December, along with Sadek Mahdi, leader of another opposition political party. The other defendants were arrested last week while distributing leaflets, the agency said.
Taha formed his party in the 1940s. Its interpretations of the Koran, the Islamic holy book, are regarded as heretical by many Sudanese Muslims.
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