Sudan - Lubma Hussein will receive 40 lashes for wearing pants?

[believe09]

Ms. Hussein was rounded up in a raid on a cafe in Sudan where up to 10 women were discovered wearing pants. All but two of the women paid fines and were flogged; Ms. Hussein and the other woman decided to take their chances in court. The journalist stepped down from her position with the UN which would have guaranteed her immunity from punishment; at her trial today about 100 women showed up to protest the arrest. The women were systematically beaten and tear gas was fired at them while cameras were held at bay-one of the rumors was that Ms Hussein's attorney was one of the women beaten by police.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090804...DeW5faGVhZGxpbmVfbGlzdARzbGsDcG9saWNlYmVhdHdv

 

[LaLaw2000]

 

[Kat]

IMHO Until all of our sisters are extended basic human rights then we all have failed.

 

[reb]

ahhhhhh,,, cultural diversity.... don't you love it...??

 

[Truthwillsetufree]

It makes me so sad I want to cry for them.

 

[Reannan]

Well, it makes me want to drop AK-47's with pink bows tied around them from a helicopter to every woman living there!!! I guess that is probably wrong - "violence is never the answer and all"..... but seriously, what would we do in THIS country if that happened here? I just can't even begin to imagine the outrage, the protest, the 'violence' that would ensue if that happened. Well, actually, I can imagine it - I just can't figure out how to bring that same sense of wrong vs. right to these women. How can we help them, seriously??? I really want to.

 

[Apostapler]

Well, it makes me want to drop AK-47's with pink bows tied around them from a helicopter to every woman living there!!! I guess that is probably wrong - "violence is never the answer and all"..... but seriously, what would we do in THIS country if that happened here? I just can't even begin to imagine the outrage, the protest, the 'violence' that would ensue if that happened. Well, actually, I can imagine it - I just can't figure out how to bring that same sense of wrong vs. right to these women. How can we help them, seriously??? I really want to.

It doesn't appear that the women are the ones that need the sense of right and wrong, it's the lawmakers. But I get what you are saying. This woman is incredibly brave and strong to want to step down from her U.N. position and open herself up to the (assumed) fury of the legal system. If she succeeds she will be a remarkable trailblazer. If she doesn't, she will still be a heroine.

 

[believe09]

I think she has made an interesting point-that wearing women wearing pants does NOT defy Islamic law. Women are covered when wearing them-so the ball is back in the courts of those who have chosen to consider it indecent. And for those who have outlawed it, well they are showing what is the driving force behind their own thoughts of the women in their country and it is not common sense. JMO.

 

[believe09]

This brave woman received her sentence on Monday-she will be fined but will not be lashed. Hard line Muslims insisted she be harshly punished but the Sudanese courts chose a middle road approach. She has insisted she did nothing wrong and she will not pay the fine.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090907/lf_nm_life/us_sudan_trousers