He then established a small, new group in 1983 that developed a “cut-and-paste” version of sharia laws based on practice in other countries.
Even before issuance of the September Laws, however, John Garang, the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) had defected from the government and begun to organize Southern opposition to overthrow Nimeiry.
The enforcement of hudud punishment, which included flogging and amputation of hands and feet, aroused widespread opposition to the Nimeiry government.
Both Swar al-Dahab and his democratically elected successor, Sadiq al-Mahdi, supported sharia but criticized its method of implementation by Nimeiry.
This caused his coalition partner, al-Turabi and the National Islamic Front (NIF), to resign from the government in protest.
Al-Mahdi announced that the cabinet would consider draft legislation repealing the September Laws on July 1, 1989, and would meet with SPLM leaders to resolve peacefully an end to the civil war.
The military coup of June 1989 led by al-Bashir occurred only 24 hours before the al-Mahdi government was scheduled to vote on rescinding the September Laws.
[1] The al-Bashir government initially retained the official freeze on implementation of the sharia laws but unofficially advised judges to apply them in preference to secular codes.
In practice, Sudan treated Islam as the state religion and expected it to inspire the country's laws, institutions, and policies in the North.
The Interim National Constitution was less emphatic on this point and stated explicitly that Sudan was a “multireligious country” where diversity meant coexistence.
[1] The CPA significantly altered the judicial structure in the North and created a new legal system for South Sudan, the states, and the national capital of Khartoum.
Following the military takeover in 1989, for example, the National Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) issued a decree that gave the president power to appoint and dismiss all judges.
It reached decisions by majority opinion, subject to revision only if and when the chief justice concluded that a judgment infringed sharia laws.
For example, one of these courts consisted of a three-judge bench composed of two military personnel and a civilian prosecutor appointed by the armed forces.
Other key political figures, including Sadiq al-Mahdi and former president Nimeiry, were also instrumental at various points in promoting sharia in what is known as September Laws.
[1] The U.S. Department of State 2009 International Religious Freedom Report on Sudan estimated the country's Muslim population at 70 percent.
As a result, with an end to the conflict, the Interim National Constitution underscored the diversity of religious beliefs in Sudan.
Sudan's Code of Criminal Procedure, in accordance with sharia, authorized hudud punishments in the North, although the severest forms were not being implemented as of 2011.
A widow inherited only one-eighth of her husband's estate; of the remaining seven-eights, two-thirds went to the sons and one-third to the daughters.
In practice, the penalty was not carried out; by the end of 2010, the last case of apostasy prosecuted was in 1985 under the Nimeiry government and involved a Mahmoud Mohammed Taha who questioned Islamic beliefs but did not attempt to convert to another religion.