Hoochie Mamas of the Sudan released

Per Reuters: Sudan to release women jailed for brewing alcohol

KHARTOUM, May 30 (Reuters) - Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has decreed all women imprisoned for brewing illegal alcohol should be released, ending a vicious cycle affecting southern widows trying to feed their families in Khartoum.

It seems that a key component of the Sudan's economic and social structure is the home brewing of white lightning.

"...mostly southerners who fled the north-south civil war to live in slums surrounding the capital Khartoum. Women with as many as eight children, often widowed, make and sell home-brewed alcohol known locally as Aragi or Mireisse to feed their families."

Everything was just fine until Sharia arrived. What a surprise.

Selling alcohol in Sudan is illegal under Islamic Sharia law, which was imposed in 1983 and was one of the catalysts for the war between the mostly Christian and animist south and the Islamist government in Khartoum.

If you haven't been following the Sudan (and I really haven't either - so many Islamic terror fronts, so little time) there is this:

Under the deal sharia has been lifted in southern Sudan and a new constitution enshrines religious freedom throughout the country. But a commission to protect the rights of non-Muslims in the northern capital Khartoum has yet to be formed and many are still arrested for making alcohol.

Kafir Hoochie Mamas unite.