Sudanese woman convicted for wearing trousers

[Flashermac]

A female Sudanese journalist has convicted of violating public indecency by wearing trousers outdoors but escaped a penalty of flogging.

 

Lubna Hussein was among 13 women arrested July 3 in a raid by the public order police in Khartoum.

 

Ten of the women were fined and flogged two days later.

 

But Mrs Hussein and two others decided to go to trial.

 

"I will not pay a penny," she told the Associated Press while still in court custody, wearing the same trousers that had sparked her arrest.

 

The case has made headlines in Sudan and around the world and Mrs Hussein used it to rally world opinion against the country's morality laws based on a strict interpretation of Islam.

 

Galal al-Sayed, Hussein's lawyer, said he advised her to pay the fine imposed by the judge of £200 before appealing the decision. She refused, he said.

 

Ahead of the trial, police rounded up dozens of female demonstrators, many of them wearing trousers, outside the courtroom.

 

As a UN worker, Mrs Hussein should have immunity from prosecution, but she opted to resign so that she could stand trial and draw attention to the case.

 

 

Allah be praised!