Sudanese woman guilty of wearing pants, sent to jail Journalist Lubna Hussein, wearing the same pants in the courtroom, is convicted of public indecency and sentenced to a month in jail when she refuses to pay a $200 fine. She could have been lashed. Reporting from Khartoum, Sudan, and Nairobi, Kenya - A Sudanese woman was convicted today of public indecency for wearing pants at an outdoor cafe and jailed for one month when she refused to pay a fine. The case has stirred international outrage and spawned protests in Sudan over the Islamic-dominated government's treatment of women. Lubna Hussein, a journalist and former U.N. staffer based in Khartoum, the capital, could have received 40 lashes with a plastic whip under Sudan's criminal code, which is based largely on Islamic Sharia law. Instead, a judge ordered Hussein -- who stood before the court in the same pair of pants that she wore when arrested -- to pay a $200 fine. Hussein said she would refuse to pay, and was taken to a women's prison to serve a one-month sentence. "If I paid, it would mean I'd lost the battle," Hussein said after the verdict was announced. "I would rather serve my time in jail." Hussein was arrested earlier this year with a dozen other women, most of whom have since paid a fine or were lashed. Western nations lodged complaints about the case. Amnesty International, a human rights group, last week likened public floggings to "state-sponsored torture." Hussein, believed to be in her 30s, said she hoped her case would put a spotlight on the repressive treatment of women in Sudan. More than 100 female protesters rallied to her defense at the courthouse, some dressed in pants, shouting slogans such as "There is no justice in Sudan!" Police arrested more than three dozen protesters and released them after the verdict was announced. Sudanese women face widespread discrimination in the workplace and there are few high-ranking female politicians. Even in southern Sudan, which is predominantly non-Muslim, women have faced arrest, discrimination and attack for behaving or dressing in ways that were perceived by local authorities as immodest. As a United Nations employee, Hussein was entitled to immunity from prosecution, but she quit her job so that the case would not be dismissed. She sent e-mail invitations to journalists and diplomats asking that they attend her sentencing. "I chose to resign from the U.N. so that I could face the Sudanese authorities and make them show to the world what they consider justice to be," she wrote last week in an editorial in Britain's Guardian newspaper. "I also pray that the next generation will see we had the courage to fight for their future before it was too late." Government officials declined to comment. The sentencing was twice postponed, reportedly in hopes that Hussein would agree to a settlement and international attention would fade. Hussein's attorney said his client would appeal the verdict to the nation's highest court. Sudanese activists called on the government to reform and clarify the nation's indecency laws. A 2005 peace treaty that ended the country's 21-year north-south civil war called for legal reforms to strengthen human rights and reflect religious diversity, but the work has yet to be completed. "There should be definitions and guidance," said Anwar Bashir of the Child and Women's Rights Institute in Khartoum. "The law is there to protect people, not take away their rights." source
There seems to me to be three things to consider: 1. Does Allah even really care if a woman wears pants? 2. If he does care and prohibits it, what rules apply to a "Muslim" woman who wants to wear pants? (I put Muslim in quotes because maybe she doesn't want to be Muslim either, or maybe she does want to be Muslim but just want to wear pants.) 3. What will the West do to make sure people are not forced to follow religious dictates against their will?
Allah does not exist. The west should stay out of this. If I'm not mistaken, the women behind her is wearing pants as well...... maybe a foreign journalist I'm not sure if Hussein is more of a great feminist fighter or a world media star-wannabe. The west should take care of sudan not because of women's outfits but because it is most important asset in Africa of various Islamic terror organizations/countries. And we haven't even mentioned the 400,000 victims of the genocide.
This is odd. If you have ever visted Damascus there are more sexy under ware shops than London. This is not about religion it is about a backwards country that uses religion as an excuse and justification 100 years ago these boys were running about in grass skirts, living in mud huts attacking people with spears. Check out wilkopedia if you think I made that up.........