By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
KHARTOUM, Sudan – Police launched tear gas and beat women in protest outside a Sudanese court on Tuesday. The women are protesting the trial of female journalist Lubna Hussein who is accused of violating Islamic law by wearing trousers in public. She faces 40 lashes.
There were 50 protesters, most of them women. Some of the women wore trousers to show solidarity with Hussein.
Islamic law was adopted after an Islamic rebel group led a coup and gained power in 1989. Activists and lawyers, however, say that the law’s interpretation is arbitrary.
Most of the women who were arrested along with Hussein during the raid were flogged and fined 250 Sudanese pounds (around $120). Hussein and two others, however, chose to go to trial.
Hussein chose to publicize her trial and has invited human rights workers, Western diplomats, and other journalists to witness it. She was required to wear the suspect clothing to court so that the judge and others could see it but she has chosen to wear the same outfit every day since the day she was arrested in order to highlight her case.
“I am not afraid of flogging. … It’s not about flogging. It’s not about my innocence. It’s about changing the law,” she said. She added that she would be willing to go to Sudan’s constitutional court and “to receive (even) 40,000 lashes” if the court rules against her.
The judge for the Khartoum Criminal Court adjourned Hussein’s trial for a month to seek clarification from Sudan’s foreign ministry. Hussein was working for the UN Mission in Sudan at the time of her arrest but submitted her resignation in order to avoid immunity and go on trial to challenge the dress code law.
For more information, please see:
AP – Police Beat Women Opposing Sudan Dress Code Trial – 04 August 2009
BBC – Protests at Sudan Woman’s Trial – 04 August 2009
CNN – Protests as Sudan ‘Tight Pants’ Trial Delayed – 04 August 2009
Impunity Watch – Woman Dares Court Over Flogging for Wearing Trousers – 02 August 2009
