Codifying a jurist’s law: Islamic criminal legislation and Supreme Court case law in the Sudan under Numairi and Bashīr

Abstract

In 1983 the Sudan introduced for the first time an Islamized penal code which, after a period of strict application, was first suspended with regard to the harsher corporal punishments and subsequently replaced in 1991 by a new, overhauled Criminal Act. The present thesis analyses Islamized Sudanese criminal legislation and ICL-related case law of the Sudanese Supreme Court. In addition, a number of interviews with judges, lawyers, academics, and politicians were conducted. The main research questions of this thesis pertain to the legal and political history of Islamic Criminal Law in the Sudan and its relation with Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and secular predecessor codes. Further, the application and interpretation of Sudanese ICL in the Supreme Court as well as the relation between Islamic Criminal Law and its contradiction with international human rights treaties were analyzed.