Court suspends ban on women in the workplace

In response to a petition by the Sudanese Women’s Union, Sudan’s Constitutional Court suspended a controversial decree on Saturday by the Khartoum state governor, banning women from working in some public places. On 3 September, Governor Mazjoub al-Khalifa, citing Islamic sharia law, barred women from working in petrol stations, hotels and cafes in a move which angered women’s and human rights groups, Reuters reported. However, Saturday’s court ruling decreed that: “Women in the private and public sectors who were prevented by the governor’s decree from working should continue to work in their places until a final decision is taken on the that case.”