Sudanese woman fined for wearing trousers !

A Sudanese woman was found guilty of indecency and fined on Monday for wearing trousers in a case that has attracted worldwide attention, but she will be spared lashes, an official who attended the trial said.

The woman, Lubna Hussein, was arrested at a party in July with 12 other women and had faced the possibility of 40 lashes for wearing trousers deemed indecent. The court ordered her to pay a fine of 500 pounds ($209) or face a month in jail.

Hussein's case was seen as a test of Sudan's Islamic decency regulations, which many women activists say are vague and give individual police officers undue latitude to determine what is acceptable clothing for women.

A former reporter who was working for the United Nations at the time of her arrest, Hussein has publicized her case, posing in loose trousers for photos and calling for media support.

Reached by telephone after the verdict, Hussein said she would refuse to pay the fine: "I will not pay the money, and I will go to prison."

Defense lawyer Nabil Adib Abdalla has previously said the law on indecent dress was so wide it contravened Hussein's right to a fair trial.

"She was found guilty, but we know she is not guilty ... This is a clear violation of the constitution, of women's rights, and the peace agreement," said Yasser Arman, a government official who attended the trial and is also a senior member of the former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement.

Ten of the other women arrested with Hussein have pleaded guilty and have been whipped, Hussein previously said.

PROTESTS AT COURT

Indecency cases are not uncommon in Sudan, where there is a large cultural gap between the mostly Muslim and Arab-oriented north and the mainly Christian south. The cases prompted scores of women to gather near the court ahead of the verdict to lend support to Hussein.

Hussein argued her clothes, a pair of green slacks that she also wore to her first court appearance, were respectable and that she did not break the law.

"Lubna has given us a chance. She is very brave. Thousands of girls have been beaten since the 1990s, but Lubna is the first one not to keep silent," protester Sawsan Hassan el-Showaya told Reuters before the verdict.

But scuffles erupted at the protest before the court session even began between the women and Islamists, who shouted religious slogans and denounced Hussein and her supporters as prostitutes and demanded a harsh punishment for Hussein.

Riot police quickly cleared the scene, beating some protesters with batons. Around 40 women protesters were detained.

Hussein has said she resigned from her U.N. job to give up any legal immunity so she could continue with the case, prove her innocence and challenge the decency law.

U.N. officials have said the United Nations told Sudan that Hussein was immune from legal proceedings as she was a U.N. employee at the time of her arrest. But the case was allowed to proceed after Sudan's foreign ministry advised the court that Hussein was not immune.

Posted: at 8-09-2009 10:42 AM (15 years ago) | Gistmaniac

mind ur speech gal

Posted: at 8-09-2009 10:51 AM (15 years ago) | Gistmaniac

wt abt here, dis muslim lady was banned from wearin d haja(d head scarf) in court . . .

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Posted: at 8-09-2009 11:01 AM (15 years ago) | Upcoming

when you are in Rome you dont have to behave like you are in vegas.

Culture and norms ought to be respected.

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Posted: at 9-09-2009 10:02 AM (15 years ago) | Gistmaniac

   
what will you do if she doesn't?
boy, what has she said?

don't mind him emmyG, he wants everyone to be like him - can't you see his picture?

Posted: at 9-09-2009 12:57 PM (15 years ago) | Gistmaniac

Thought as much o!

Posted: at 10-09-2009 02:11 PM (15 years ago) | Gistmaniac

ok..i've heard...

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Posted: at 11-09-2009 02:25 AM (15 years ago) | Addicted Hero

21st century ..dem still dey flog woman wey no dress well....how many of them fit make car for their country.Dressing in the gravity of more important issues holds no moss.Gross human right violation.

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Posted: at 11-09-2009 04:23 AM (15 years ago) | Addicted Hero

if pants in sudan is the problem what about a male sitting next to a female in some parts of nigeria .let give to caesar what belongs to ceasar.if pants are not wanted let them use boxers.

Posted: at 12-09-2009 02:10 PM (15 years ago) | Newbie

crossing

Posted: at 12-09-2009 04:16 PM (15 years ago) | Gistmaniac