Also see: Who Wears the Pants Down at the Boston Globe?
"Sudanese woman convicted for wearing pants freed; Against her wishes, union pays $200 fine" by Sarah El Deeb, Associated Press | September 9, 2009
CAIRO - A woman journalist convicted of public indecency for wearing trousers outdoors was freed yesterday, despite her desire to serve a month in prison as protest against Sudan’s draconian morality laws.
The judge who convicted Lubna Hussein had imposed a $200 fine as her sentence, avoiding the maximum sentence of 40 lashes in an apparent attempt to put an end to a case that had raised international criticism of Sudan. But Hussein refused to pay the fine, an act that would have meant a month’s imprisonment.
She said that she was freed yesterday after the fine was paid without her knowledge by the Journalist Union, which is headed by a member of the ruling party....
Since her arrest in July, Hussein, 43, has used her case to draw attention to Sudan’s indecency law, which allows flogging as a punishment for acts or clothing that is seen as offending morals. Human-rights campaigners say that the law is vague, that its enforcement is arbitrary, and that southern Sudanese in the capital - who are mostly Christians - are often targeted.
And who would want Christians and Muslims at each others' throats?
Who (rhymes with) benefits?
Sudan’s government implements a conservative version of Islamic law in the north, and “public order’’ police enforce the laws banning alcohol, break up parties, and scold men and women who mingle in public.
Maybe AmeriKa could learn something, huh?
In mostly Muslim northern Sudan, many women wear traditional flowing robes that cover their hair, but it is not uncommon for women to wear trousers, though conservatives consider it immodest.
And I THINK YOU LOOK LOVELY, ladies, with your BRIGHTLY COLORED GARMENTS!!!!!
See: Slow Saturday Special: How Many Times Can the Globe Say Genocide Without Saying Gaza
Under the 2005 peace deal that ended a more than 20-year civil war between the Muslim north and the Christian and animist south, laws - including the indecency law - are supposed to be reviewed to respect human rights and freedom of expression.
Hussein was arrested in July with 12 other women in a Khartoum cafe and they were charged with violating the indecency law for wearing trousers in public. Ten of them were flogged shortly after they accepted summary trials."
What they call a TEST CASE (a phrase for pushing the agenda).
Of course, the Glob has to get in its two-cents:
"Sudan’s indecent misogyny
WHEN A lone individual takes on a repressive state and its unjust laws, she deserves solidarity from the global village. So it is with....
Rachel Corrie?
The case also tests the mettle of the African Union and the Arab League, both of which include Sudan. If these groups want any credibility on matters of human rights, they should join Hussein in protesting Sudan’s vicious “indecency’’ law."
That coming from a newspaper in a nation that has tortured, committed mass-murder based on lies, and looks the other way on organ harvesting.
And that's the last you heard about Sudan since.
Also related: African Safari: Clinton Skips Over Sudan
