Update! Sudan's Woman and Her Scandalous Pants
posted by: Natasha G. 103 days ago
Last month, Sudanese journalist and UN officer Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein made headlines when she was arrested for wearing pants under the nation's indecency law and chose to fight in court, facing forty lashes.
Her trial resumed on Sept. 7, during which the judge decided she should pay a $200 fine instead of receiving lashes. Al-Hussein refused to pay the fine so as not to recognize a law she argues is unconstitutional, and was sentenced to one month in jail. However the Sudanese Journalists Union paid the fine, and she was released the next day. However she believes she was released because of the government's fear she would report on women's prison conditions.
"I'm happy for all the people who supported me in Sudan ... and all over the world," al-Hussein declared. "But I will, with all women in Sudan, continue our work to end this bad law. We are not stopping here." (McClatchy)
A Sudanese expatriate in the United States has created the website I Am Lubna with a petition to eliminate Article 152 of the Sudanese Criminal Code, which stipulates that indecent clothing or conduct is punishable by forty lashes. It has gathered support from many Sudanese organizations, particularly those centered on women's rights and education, as well as international groups. Add your name to the petition here.
Her trial resumed on Sept. 7, during which the judge decided she should pay a $200 fine instead of receiving lashes. Al-Hussein refused to pay the fine so as not to recognize a law she argues is unconstitutional, and was sentenced to one month in jail. However the Sudanese Journalists Union paid the fine, and she was released the next day. However she believes she was released because of the government's fear she would report on women's prison conditions.
"I'm happy for all the people who supported me in Sudan ... and all over the world," al-Hussein declared. "But I will, with all women in Sudan, continue our work to end this bad law. We are not stopping here." (McClatchy)
A Sudanese expatriate in the United States has created the website I Am Lubna with a petition to eliminate Article 152 of the Sudanese Criminal Code, which stipulates that indecent clothing or conduct is punishable by forty lashes. It has gathered support from many Sudanese organizations, particularly those centered on women's rights and education, as well as international groups. Add your name to the petition here.
Read more: sudan, womens rights
comments
umm im not sure this is true. Im Sudanese. I live in America but I still talk to my relatives overseas, so I'm not totally clueless as to whats going on there. Plus i visited Sudan not to long ago and not everyone's walking around in veils. Its not illegal to wear pants in Sudan because my aunt, who lives there, doesn't wear a scarf so all she wears is pants and tops.
Also, this has nothing to do with Islam. I'm also a Muslim woman. And I wear pants. So does my mom. There's absolutely nothing wrong with wearing pants.
Anyways if this is true-that she got arrested just for wearing pants-then that is just ridiculous. If she wants to wear pants so what! she's certainly a grown woman who can make her own choices and decisions. I hope she gets her justice.
God Bless :))
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In a country where rape, torture & genocide abound what an insignificant & trivial matter to be prosecuted! It's all about the power of men over women not decency or the Koran. The bible tells us that God made us in his image so why be ashamed of our bodies? It is the indecent minds of men who find fault with womens' clothing that is the problem, not the wearer. I fully support Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein in her defiance of this ridiculous law. I urge others to sign the petition also.
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I admire and feel for the suffering this woman must be experiencing. Don't think for a minute if a lot of men (right here in the USA) would have their way, we women here would be living under the same type laws. i.e. the ass hole who paraded on stage while the MTV awards were going on, he showed his colossal disrespect by actually going on stage and insulting the awardee, a woman,by telling her she didn't deserve the award.
Would he have done that to a man receiving the award? Not a chance. Someone probably would have decked him. His apology has not been accepted as far as I'm concerned.
This brings to mind the women living in shelters (here in the USA) to escape the damage and possible their lives from spouses and or boy friends. The only reason men can get away with these types of actions is their fear of women being smarter than they and of course physically weaker. We should have a way to give those women who want it asylum here in America. Why not, every one else uses us.
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Look how free we are in this Country this is what this story is all about and that is a fact.
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Those trousers were not at all indecent in any way. It must be terrible to go out not knowing if there is someone spying on you and ready to pounce! The muslim world is crazy and a loving God would not want people treated in this way which just goes to prove where this religion comes from!!
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There are more important things in the world like people dying, war, human trafficking and such, and power-hungry men are more worried about women wearing pants.
Nowhere in the Koran does it say a woman can't wear pants, there's also nothing in the Koran that says a woman must wear a full body or face veil. Some people claim Islam is about the "well being" of women as well as peace, but what kind of women's well being are they referring to? The subservient women's well-being or the independent women's well being, or all women's well being?
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Although I disagree with the foolish law the basic problem with the pants may have been "the western pant" so if she had hidden them under a tunic dress who would have known. So it was the Western influence that was attacked, don't you think.
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Well, this reminded me of what happened to me 41 years in Austria. My mom bought me, a 6-yr old girl, red pants that I had to wear to school (my mom was progressive compared to the traditional taste of the village I grew up in). While I waited at the bus station in front of my elementary school, the village's catholic priest and teacher came up to me and told me in a grave voice while slowly shaking his head 'Wearing red pants is a SIN!'. So, this cloth issue is not necessarily a Muslim problem, Christians can be quite stupid too and I wonder what the priest would have done if I had entered 'his' church with my red pants (He was quick to pull students' ears very hard, to the point of tearing, some bled; good I wasn't in his reach of authority as I am not Catholic). Also, why do we Westerners sometimes even today want to tell other people not to wear their traditional clothes if they want to?
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Mohammed N, how very true - and how sad. How many well-dressed, good-looking people are there, who may look 'cool' on the outside, but who are horrible to everyone, unless they think there's something to be gained by being nice? I am middle-aged, overweight, and disabled, so need to go around on a mobility scooter...and some young, 'cool' children and teenagers think they have a right to make fun of me. It never occurs to any of them, that one day, they will be my age. That one day, those arrogant boys, so full of themselves, will be going bald and have a belly hanging over the waistbands of their trousers, and those thoughtlessly cruel girls will be battling bulges of their own. And perhaps age will bring infirmity with it, which will require them to seek mobility aids of their own - and perhaps, they, too, will encounter the same thoughtless cruelty from generations yet to be born.
And how many well-dressed people use their looks to con and destroy other people?
As far as I know, in Pakistan - a staunchly Muslim country - the traditional costume for women is usually a long top over a pair of baggy pants. By the reckoning of those who impose this law in Sudan, that means every woman in Pakistan should be punished for 'indecency'.
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it is strange to be judged by what you are wearing not your actions... as how come anyone judge another person for what they are wearing that is so weird and it is good to know that the judge come to his sense back again and just changed the rule into the fine... we live in the world that i think people think of other people by their appearance not by their actions as i see from all the troubles that happen in this world happen for a shellow things and issues and nothing else... just pray to god to forgive those people who never think before judge people around and always hope God guide us all to the right track and keep us from hurting each others and god bless you all.
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