Skip to main content
KHARTOUM - 20 Apr 2021

Sudan formally annuls 63-year Israel boycott law

The ruling Sovereignty Council of Sudan and the cabinet on Monday officially voted to annul the Israel boycott law as part of the normalization process between Khartoum and Jerusalem.

On 6 April 2021, the Sudanese cabinet approved a bill to cancel the boycott of Israel law.

The Sudanese Minister of Justice, Nasruddin Abdel-Bari, stated in a press statement that the two councils approved the draft during a joint meeting held on Monday. 

He said, "We recently approved, in a joint meeting of the Sovereignty Council and the Ministers, a bill to abolish the Law on Boycotting Israel."

The boycott of Israel law prohibits any person from directly or indirectly agreeing to any kind of trade with bodies or persons residing in Israel or with bodies or persons he knows that belong to Israel by their nationality or that they work for Israel.

The boycott law also prohibits any kind of trade-in Israeli goods and products, whether they come from Israel directly or indirectly. Breaking the law translated into an automatic 10 years imprisonment and a fine.

On October 23, 2020, Sudan announced the normalization of its relations with Israel, but many political forces announced their rejection of the normalization, including the parties participating in the ruling coalition.