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Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir faced the biggest challenge of his three-decade reign. By ASHRAF SHAZLY (AFP / File)
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir reduced the maximum term of imprisonment for violation of the state of emergency in the country from 10 years to six months, while demonstrators held rallies against his government Thursday.
Deadly demonstrations have rocked Sudan since December, and Bashir imposed a state of national emergency on February 22 to quell the protests seen as the biggest challenge to his three-decade reign.
Bashir had originally announced that any violation of the state of emergency, particularly participation in prohibited gatherings, was punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to 10 years. .
But on Thursday, he ordered that the maximum prison sentence for such a violation be now six months.
In a separate order, he also appointed the acting leader of the ruling National Congress party, Ahmed Harun, as the presidential administrator.
On March 1, Bashir transferred his powers as head of the NCP to Harun, his party deputy.
Like Bashir, Harun has been indicted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region.
Even as Bashir's new orders were announced, crowds of protesters staged rallies in the central city of Al-Obeid and in the regions of Khartoum and Omdurman, the twin city of the capital of Bashir. Nile, said witnesses.
The protest in Al-Obeid, capital of North Kordofan State, was the first such demonstration for weeks outside Khartoum and Omdurman since the entry into force of the state of emergency.
The protest movement, which is in its fourth month, has been largely confined to the capital and Omdurman since the imposition of the state 's emergency.
In chanting the movement's "freedom, peace, justice" slogan, protesters staged a rally from the city's main market, but were quickly confronted with riot police with tear gas, witnesses said.
In Burri district, in the east of the capital, where protests are taking place, protesters released balloons attached with photographs of detainees and people killed at rallies, witnesses said.
The organizers of the protest called Thursday's protests a "rally for justice."
The protests erupted on December 19 in response to the government's decision to remove a vital subsidy for bread.
But they quickly escalated into protests against Bashir's three-decade regime, whose protesters called for him to resign.
According to officials, 31 people have already died in violence related to the protests, but Human Rights Watch has estimated the death toll at 51.
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