Scrapping of public order law hailed

Sudan has officially repealed a restrictive public order law that controlled how women acted and dressed in public. As previously reported in Legalbrief Today, the Bill was formulated by the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) seven months after the revolution which saw former President Omar al-Bashir being arrested and his government forced to hand over power to a transitional authority. The Bill also permits the confiscation of NCP property and assets. Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok marked the occasion by saluting women who had 'endured the atrocities that resulted from the implementation of this law'. The country's transitional authorities have also dissolved the party of former President Omar al-Bashir. Aisha Musa, one of two women on Sudan's new Sovereign Council, told BBC News that while the former regime had focused on how women dressed and acted it had ignored their education and healthcare. 'It is about time that all this corruption stops, that all this treatment for the women of Sudan stops,' she said. Rights activist Hala al-Karib said repealing the law was a 'massive step' for her country, arguing the legislation had enforced the old regime's ideology, which was 'based in terror and discrimination'.