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 Sudanese journalist quits UN job to go on trial for wearing trousersمحأكمة لبنى في صحف بريطانية
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Sudanese journalist quits UN job to go on trial for wearing trousers
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Associated Press
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 30 July 2009 03.34 BST
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A female Sudanese journalist facing 40 lashes for wearing trousers in public told a packed Khartoum courtroom yesterday that she was resigning from a UN job that grants her immunity so that she could challenge the law on women's dress.
Lubna Hussein was among 13 women arrested on 3 July in a raid by members of the public order police force on a popular Khartoum cafe. The women were all wearing trousers, considered indecent under the strict interpretation of Islamic law adopted by Sudan's Islamic regime. All but three of the women were flogged at a police station two days later.
But Hussein and two other women decided to go to trial and Hussein invited human rights workers, western diplomats and fellow journalists to Wednesday's hearing. Some of her women friends arrived in court wearing trousers in a show of support.
"This is not a case about me wearing pants," said Hussein, who works in the media department of the UN mission in Sudan and contributes opinion pieces to a left-leaning Khartoum newspaper.
"This is a case about annulling the article that addresses women's dress code, under the title of indecent acts. This is my battle. This article is against the constitution and even against Islamic law itself."
Judge Mudathir Rashid adjourned the hearing until 4 August to give Hussein time to leave her job.
Hussein said she would resign immediately and thanked the UN for intervening to spare her possible punishment. She said the UN mission was trying to stand by her, invoking a clause in an agreement between the Sudanese government and UN representatives in Sudan that obliges officials to ask permission before starting legal proceedings against a member of UN staff.
Hussein's defence lawyer, Nabil Adeeb, said the UN wanted to protect its staff, but Hussein wanted her trial to proceed. "We have contradicting interests," he said. Hussein could face at least 40 lashes, according to Adeeb.
Sharia law has been strictly implemented in Sudan since an army coup led by Omar al-Bashir in 1989. Activists and lawyers say the implementation of the law is arbitrary.
Public order cases usually involve quick summary trials with sentences carried out shortly afterwards, as was the case with the 10 of the 13 women arrested earlier this month. They were flogged and fined 250 Sudanese pounds (£63).
Women in mostly Muslim northern Sudan, particularly in the capital, Khartoum, dress in traditional outfits that cover their ######### and shoulders. Western dress is uncommon.
However, the raid on a Khartoum cafe popular with journalists and foreigners was unusual.
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