Sudan: Christian couple face 100 lashes following husband’s conversion

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A Sharia court of law in Sudan may punish a formerly Muslim married couple with 100 lashes for “adultery” following the husband’s conversion to Christianity, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

Hamouda Tia Kafi and Nada Hamad Shukralah of Sudan’s Al Jazirah state were both Muslims when they married in 2016, MSN said. However, when Kafi became a Christian in 2018 Shukralah’s family successfully petitioned a Sharia court of law to annul their marriage.

In 2021 Shukralah also converted to Christianity and returned to live with Kafi, MSN reports. Shukralah’s conversion and return to Kafi enraged her brother, who had the couple charged with adultery under Article 146 of Sudan’s 1991 criminal law.

Given that their marriage was annulled in 2018, Kafi and Shukralah are being dealt with by a Sharia court of law as unmarried people who committed adultery – a crime which carries a sentence of flogging and expulsion from their home. The hearing in their case is set for May 12, MSN said.

In a website statement about the persecution of Sudanese Christians since Sudan’s 2019 coup which ousted dictator Omar al-Bashir, the Open Doors advocacy group said: “The situation Sudanese Christians has somewhat improved in the sense that the government has changed its policy of considering Christians enemies and agents of the West. [However], persecution remains incredibly high in Sudan… the government has not put real protections into place for Christians and other religious minorities.”

Sudan ranks 13th on the US Open Doors World Watch List 2022 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

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