Sudan cabinet scraps law abusing women's rights

Sudan's cabinet Tuesday scrapped a controversial law that severely curtailed women's rights during the 30-year tenure of deposed autocrat Omar al-Bashir, state media reported.

Thousands of women were flogged, fined and even jailed during Bashir's rule under the archaic public order law.

"The council of ministers agreed in an extraordinary meeting today to cancel the public order law across all provinces," the official SUNA news agency reported.

The cabinet's decision is still to be ratified by the ruling sovereign council, which is an 11-member joint civilian-military body.

Bashir seized power in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989, severely restricting the role of women in Sudan for decades.

During his rule, authorities implemented a strict moral code that activists said primarily targeted women, through harsh interpretations of Islamic ShariaH law.