Target: Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir

Goal: Protect Sudanese woman from being stoned to death for adultery, and advocate for a stoning ban.

A twenty-year-old Sudanese woman received a death by stoning sentence for adultery. She is currently imprisoned in Khartoum, where her and her baby son are shackled.

Not only is the thought of stoning as a punishment for adultery shockingly antiquated, it is simply cruel and unusual punishment. As reported in The Huffington Post, protesters and human rights advocates also worry that the harsh ruling violates international standards and could be a warning sign that the Sudanese government will begin applying strict Islamic law.

The woman, Intisar Sharif Abdalla, was sentenced by the Ombada criminal court on April 22. Her lawyers are currently trying to appeal the sentence on her behalf, citing psychological strain as the reason for her adultery. “She’s in dire need of a psychiatrist because she appears to be in a state of shock from the social and family pressures she’s under,” her lawyer said.

“The case certainly raises concerns about how judges are interpreting and applying the laws of Sudan,” said Jehanne Henry, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. And going one step further, it is clear that Sudan’s criminal code is in dire need of an update. Floggings are a common punishment, and Sudan is one of the only countries left to keep stonings as a part of its criminal code.

If something is not done, Abdalla could be sentenced to certain death. The criminal code of Sudan must be reformed. Sign below to protest Abdalla’s sentence and demand she be set free, and call for reform of Sudanese criminal laws.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear President Hassan al-Bashir,

The news of a young woman, a mother, being sentenced to death by stoning was shocking. This is an issue of human rights, women’s rights and glaring example of the need for reform in Sudan’s criminal code.

Although the lawyers of the young woman, Intisar Sharif Abdalla, submitted an appeal based on psychological stress, a sentence like this should not have been applied in the first place.

As the criminal code stands now, it is very inconsistent. The legal system gives individual judges the power to assign punishments, making sentencing unpredictable and many a times unfair. There must be a reform of articles in the Sudanese criminal code.

Please consider the plight of this young woman, give her the freedom she deserves, and see her situation as grounds for criminal code reform.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

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Photo credit: Ammar Abd Rabbo via Flickr