International scrutiny and pressure works, in an update on this story. However, the law has not changed, so there has been an attempt to save face, but not actual reform: one must not be mistaken for the other. And Lubna al-Hussein remains determined not to let Sudanese authorities sweep this embarrassment under the rug. "Woman tried for wearing pants faces fine, not flogging," from CNN, September 7:
(CNN) -- A woman put on trial for wearing clothing deemed indecent by Sudanese authorities was fined Monday, but will not get the 40 lashes she could potentially have faced, her lawyer said.
Lubna al-Hussein does not intend to pay the fine, which means she will be jailed for a month, her lawyer Nabil Adib in Khartoum told CNN.
Al-Hussein, who was arrested in July for wearing pants deemed too tight and a blouse considered too sheer, will appeal to the constitutional court, Adib said.
Al-Hussein pleaded not guilty, her lawyer said. The judge did not allow her to call defense witnesses or hear a defense case, he added.
She was sentenced to pay 500 Sudanese pounds ($209) immediately or face jail, the lawyer said.
She refuses to allow anyone to pay the fine for her, the lawyer said.
Al-Hussein, a journalist who worked in the media department of the United Nations mission in Sudan, is fighting to have the law declared unconstitutional. She resigned from her U.N. position in order to waive her immunity as an international worker.
Police lobbed tear gas at people outside the courthouse Monday, and closed roads leading to the courthouse before the trial began, al-Hussein said earlier.
Throngs of people waited outside the courthouse as she made her way in, she said.
In addition to the group of lawyers defending her, al-Hussein was also represented by two Egyptian defense attorneys, she said.
The human rights organization Amnesty International called for the charges to be dropped.
"The manner in which this law has been used against women is unacceptable, and the penalty called for by the law -- up to 40 lashes -- abhorrent," Tawanda Hondora, deputy director of Amnesty International's Africa program, said in a statement.
Al-Hussein was arrested along with 18 other women on July 3 at a Khartoum restaurant when police burst in and checked women for their clothing.
"I don't think she was targeted specifically," Adib said. "They attack public and private parties and groups. They are called 'morality police' and she was just a victim of a round-up."...
Such "round-ups" will undoubtedly happen again, if they haven't already.
UPDATE...... From The Times Of London
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article6825035.ece
Sudanese journalist jailed after refusing to pay fine for wearing trousers.
The Sudanese woman put on trial for wearing trousers was spared the lash today but still landed in jail after refusing to pay the £130 fine imposed for indecency.
Lubna Hussein, a 34-year old widow whose trial exposed Sudan’s draconian Islamic laws, was taken to prison in the same trousers she wore when she was arrested with 12 other women at a Khartoum restaurant in July.
“I will not pay a penny, I’d rather go to prison” she declared after hearing the verdict. She was then taken to a women’s jail in Omdurman, across the Nile from Khartoum, the capital, to serve a one month-sentence for refusing to pay the fine.
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Imagine the reverse..... "Muslim man seen in public wearing women's clothing, but no bomb vest. Ordered by court to be immediately beheaded for insulting Islam"..... But of course, there's no problem whatsoever for a Muslim man to wear women's clothing for committing murder and seeking martyrdom. But if you are a cross-dresser, you're dead under Shari'a law.
Peace-loving people indeed.
Kenny Solomon
Locked, loaded, safeties off.
"Al-Hussein was arrested along with 18 other women on July 3 at a Khartoum restaurant when police burst in and checked women for their clothing."
just another Islam act to force the draconian Islamic ways upon those who chose not to be Muslim..by the way The Mulims really don't treat their women too well either...
The manner in which this law has been used against women is unacceptable, and the penalty called for by the...
... by the what, by the Koran?
Allah permits you to shut them in separate rooms and to beat them, but not severely. If they abstain, they have the right to food and clothing. Treat women well for they are like domestic animals and they possess nothing themselves. Allah has made the enjoyment of their bodies lawful in his Koran.
--- Tabari 4:11
You can see that Mohammed left the Ulema some room for interpretation here. For example, define severely, what constitutes that? These are the mysteries to be mulled by the men of the Islamic cloth, these Islamic scholars. This is the zone left open for Moslem Minds to wrinkle their brows and contemplate.
*** Bukhari Vol 1 Bk 22 No 28 ***
Alawl-Hussein, a journalist who worked in the media department of the United Nations mission...
Could this indignant Moslem be a distant relative of Prez Obama? Same middle name, East Africa, one wonders.
But probably not. This man is criticizing the dispensation of Islam, and I don't recall where our Prez has dared to do that.
International scrutiny and pressure works
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Sometimes it does. It has saved Abdul Rahman, the Christian apostate from Afghanistan who found asylum in Italy, and it has saved the lives of would-be stoning victims in Nigeria.
It is not enough, by itself, but it is pressure that Infidels can put on the most egregious excesses of Shari'ah.