Sudanese women lashed for wearing pants
Published: July 13, 2009
Updated 4 months ago
Several Sudanese women, including well-known journalist Lobna Ahmed al Hussein, face lashings for wearing inappropriate attire to a restaurant in the nation’s capital, Khartoum. The lewd attire, however, was nothing more than a pair of trousers.
“I was wearing trousers and a blouse and the 10 girls who were lashed were wearing like men, there was no difference,” said Hussein in an interview with the BBC’s Arabic Service.
The women were arrested under a clause of a 1991 Sudanese law that prohibits women from dressing in a manner which results in “public discomfort.” Hussein and the other women who pled guilty to the charges were immediately given 10 and are scheduled for an additional 40.
This comes as a shock after an overwhelmingly positive report from The European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council which claimed that “in comparison with women in many other African and Middle Eastern countries… Sudanese women have become relatively well-represented in public life.”
A spokesperson for an Arabic human rights group said the charges were an effort to thwart the reporter.
“Such accusations are a cheap way to undermine this brave reporter. Only tyrannical governments would stoop so low,” said Arab Network for Human Rights Information spokesperson Abeer Soliman. “The Sudanese government should have been as brave as Lobna and declare resentment to her writings instead of this brutal vengeance that aims only to break a free pen.”
Unlike South Sudan, Khartoum is governed by Sharia law, under which 40 lashes is a standard punishment for inappropriate dress. Despite this, non-Muslims are not subject to Islamic law in these parts. Hussein explained that many of the women punished were from Christian and animist areas, further complicating the situation.
Hussein has long been an advocate for women’s rights and currently writes a daily column that condemns religious fundamentalists and the oppressive nature of the Sudanese government.
Oppressive laws against women in other countries:
* Sharia Law in Bangladesh states that rape can only be proven if there are at least four Muslim adult male witnesses or the rapist confesses his crimes.
* In Saudi Arabia, women are prevented from giving testimony in court because they “do not participate in public life, so they will not be capable of understanding what they observe,” according to male lawmakers.
* In Iran, married women must get their husband’s permission before they can legally apply for a passport according to Article 18 of their passport law.
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Sudan, what a shithole of a country!
Evidently the conclusion of this article is to paint Islam as EVIL.
In so doing the author deliberately bypassed horrends fornd in THE BIBLE of Judaism and carried by all Christians. The same bible one Christians use to condemn gays and lesbians. From the holy book f Judaism and Christianity — I present (only a few passages) words from their god:
• The Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) states, “A man’s attire shall not be on a woman…because whoever does these [things] is an abomination to the Lord, your God.” (Deuteronomy 22:5 Judaica Press)
• Jewish “Modesty Patrols” sow fear in Israel. They hurl stones at women for such “sins” as wearing a red blouse, and attack stores selling devices that can access the internet. “There are eyes and ears all over the place, very similar to what you hear about in countries like Iran,” says Israeli-American novelist Naomi Ragen, an observant Jew who has chronicled the troubles that confront some women living in the ultra-Orthodox world. [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3605707,00.html ]
• An horrendously cruel law in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) states, ” If there is a virgin girl betrothed to a man, and [another] man finds her in the city, and lies with her, you shall take them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall pelt them with stones, an d they shall die: the girl, because she did not cry out [even though she was] in the city, and the man, because he violated his neighbor’s wife. So shall you clear away the evil from among you” (Deuteronomy 22:23-24 Judaica Press). A girl is raped and Judaism mandates she is to be killed because someone did not hear her cries? The Hebrew god did not think her a woman’s mouth could be covered preventing screams, crying out.
MORE? There are hundreds of examples from bashing babies heads against rocks to killing a rebellious son and gay men (lesbian women are never mentioned)
“Religion is violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism and tribalism and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children.” —Christopher Hitchens (1949 -)
So Sudanese men dress in lewd attire every day?
please dont link to frontpagemagazine. it makes you loose whatever credibility you have and is only one step away from asking the folks at stormfront about their opinion on things.
the end of the article also frames the story around the issue of the islamic religion in society when in actuality this is about a country being ruled by a grossly dimwitted dictator for twenty plus years; and ‘oppressive laws against women’ exist in all parts of the world, and against men for that matter,and focusing on religion as an implied source of all oppression in the world , and a single religion at that, obscures the realities of power and class rule.