Sudanese Woman Wears Pants, Protests Gender Ineqaulity

Khartoum, Sudan (AHN) – A female journalist from Sudan was fined $200 instead of being flogged by a court for indecency after she was caught wearing trousers in a restaurant in Khartoum in July.

Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, a United Nations press officer and employee of the leftist newspaper al-Sahafa, is contesting the punishment imposed in a closed-door hearing. She faces one month in jail if she fails to pay the fine.

Under Sudan’s penal law, Hussein should have been punished with 40 lashes. The other women, who were with Hussein when she was arrested, received 10 lashes each for charges of wearing indecent dress.

But the female journalist challenged the charge in court. She could have invoked immunity from the charge as a U.N. worker but decided to waive it in a bid to change the law.