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sudan

about sudan

official name: Republic of the Sudan
capital: Khartoum
head of state: President Lt. Gen. Umar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir
state: Islamic single party
population: 36 million
independence: from Britain in 1956
languages: Arabic (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, diverse dialects of Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic, Sudanic languages, English
religion: Sunni Muslim 70% (in north), indigenous beliefs 25%, Christian 5% (mostly in south and Khartoum)
currency: Sudanese dinar (SDD)
media: NA

legal wise

status of homosexuality: illegal
age of consent: NA
laws covering homosexual activity: In 1983 a new penal code was promulgated; ostensibly it is based on the shari'a without adherence to any special school. Article 316 defines zina [fornication] as penetration with the penis (or part thereof) into the vagina or the anus of a person on whom one has no legal right to or as granting permission to someone without legal right to penetrate one's vagina or anus. For a muhsan [married man] capital punishment is described, for a gair muhsan [bachelor] 100 lashes.
The laws was seldom applied. No cases of executions for sodomy were reported prior to April 1985, when the government of an-Numairi was overthrown and these rules were temporarily put aside. Between September 1983 and April 1985 hundreds of men and women were lashed for "intended" unlawful heterosexual intercourse, but none, as far as is known, for sodomy.

In February the military government of Hassan al-Basir reinstated shari'a law.

(Arno Schmitt and Jehoeda Sofer - "Sexuality and Eroticism Among Males in Moslem Societies")

background information and government attitudes: 3/93: At hearing of UN's NGO Committee in New York, voted against ILGA's application for consultative status with ECOSOC, and led the hostile States: "Our opposition to this organization is principled, because of the nefarious and evil acts done by this group". (Unofficial transcript by ILGA New York observers).
9.95: At UN 4th Conference on Women in Beijing opposed the (unsuccessful) proposal for inclusion of references to "sexual orientation" in the draft "Platform for Action"

Voted against granting ILGA consultative status at the UN in January 2002 and again on 30 April 2002 saying that the association had failed to provide "crystal clear evidence that it had rid itself and its members of pedophilia... the vote in favour of not granting status to that NGO would affirm the will and commitment of the international community to protect our children."

communication

mainline telephones: 400,000 (2000)
cellular telephones: 20,000 (2000)
internet country code: .sd
internet service providers: 1 (2000)
internet users: 10,000 (2000)

links and contacts
NA

a voice from sudan
October 27, 2004: A Sudanese gay man gives an account of what life is like in Arab Africa where homosexuality is intolerated. More...

2 gay men arrested
January 9, 2004: According to unconfirmed reports from a Sudanese source 2 men were arrested on December 25, 2003 at a cafe in Omdurman. More...

peter hammond arrested in sudan
Undated - pre-2003: The co-author of The Pink Agenda, a homophobic book published in South Africa, that attacks gays and lesbians as threatening the family, is in custody for alleged gun-running. More...