Sudanese women flogged for wearing trousers

[ccharles000]

CAIRO (AP) — Sudanese police arrested 13 women in a raid on a cafe and flogged 10 of them in public for wearing trousers in violation of the country's strict Islamic law, one of those arrested said Monday.

The 13 women were at a cafe in the capital, Khartoum, when they were detained Friday by officers from the public order police, which enforces the implementation of Sharia law in public places.

The force, which is similar to the Saudi religious police, randomly enforces an alcohol ban and often scolds young men and women mingling in public.

One of those arrested Friday, journalist Lubna Hussein, said she is challenging the charges, which can be punishable by up to 40 lashes.

"I didn't do anything wrong," Hussein said.

Islamic Sharia law has been strictly implemented in Sudan since the ruling party came to power in a 1989 military coup.

Public order cases usually involve quick summary trials with sentences carried out shortly afterward, as was the case with 10 of the women arrested Friday. They were flogged and fined 250 Sudanese pounds, or about $120.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hRD66e7D6mHUZJECYSQeJLNFhanAD99DPCN80

[ccharles000]

1. kick

[Lasher]

2. I'd like to meet up with one of those Sudanese police one on one.

I'd like to see how tough you have to be to tie up defenseless women and beat them.

[ccharles000]

3. kick

[vadawg]

4. technically speaking she did break the law of the land

not that i agree with it, but if she goes into court saying i didnt do anything wrong then thats not a defense against what is arguably in an outsiders eyes a dumb law.

[Maru Kitteh]

8. Drinking from "whites only" fountains was illegal once. When the law is wrong, you stand up

and say "I didn't DO anything wrong."

Good for her.

[vadawg]

9. yeah like thats gonna have a lot of sway with a sharia court

easy to say stand up when you are not the one facing lashes.

[Maru Kitteh]

15. She chose to stand up. I support her decision to do so, do you?

Rosa Parks didn't wait for some white guy to stand up for her.

[vadawg]

16. no i dont, she works for the UN, it seems that more than her were lifted

she may get a walk on it due to political pressure but the other females lifted with her may end up with lashes, and whats the point they are making, the world knows that the sudan is nuts, sometimes when the feckers around you are crazy its best to keep a low profile until they kill themselves. As i said its easy to support this from afar, much more difficult if you live in the society, i feel for the women in the horn as their deal is pretty bad.

[Liquorice]

17. That is just awful. She is standing up for her human rights, and everyone

should support her. Winning rights is never easy, and people invariably get hurt/killed before those rights are won. Those women are doing a very courageous thing.

[vadawg]

18. yup courageous, but dumb, you openly state that people get hurt/killed

before those rights are won, this is not some semi stable area that a political statement is going to make a difference, this is a place i wouldnt even call ita country where the crazies are in charge and war is all around, its not the best place to make political statements that are going to amount to nothing. Thats just the facts of life in some parts of the world.

[Liquorice]

19. Black people were hurt/murdered when they fought to win their rights too. I guess

you think they were stupid as well. I bet many people thought African-Americans were wasting their time because it wouldn't make a difference. Human rights are always won in the same way. It's difficult, violent, messy, and can take a long time, but it has to be done. Women should not have to tolerate that idiocy, and I'm glad they are fighting against it. Eventually they will win.

[vadawg]

20. yeah like you are trying to compare the US in the 60's etc to the sudan

do you have any idea the differences between the two countries and cultures. Tell you what why not jump on a plane and go over there and protest, see what happens. There were people who died for the civil rights in the US but the US wasnt in the middle of tribal warfare and rebellion.

[Maru Kitteh]

21. You might try reading the fucking story first.

I'll try to break this down into a two part response to your inane proposal that the oppressed should keep a low profile and wait for their oppressors to "kill themselves" and that this woman in particular is dumb for standing up to a law that violates her human rights purely by virtue of the fact that she is a woman in a Sharia court in an unstable country.

First things first. From the article:
--------
Public order cases usually involve quick summary trials with sentences carried out shortly afterward, as was the case with 10 of the women arrested Friday. They were flogged and fined 250 Sudanese pounds, or about $120.

Hussein and two other women chose to go to trial. <snip>

Hussein said she decided to speak out because flogging is a practice many women endure in silence. She even sent printed invitations to the press and public figures to attend her expected trial.

"Let the people see for themselves. It is not only my issue," she said. "This is retribution to thousands of girls who are facing flogging for the last 20 years because of wearing trousers," she said. "They prefer to remain silent."
--------

10 of the women chose your route. They have already been assaulted by the authorities. I couldn't blame them for taking the route of least resistance and torment. I doubt many people would. But this woman and two others made a different choice. They made a decision to stand up, to not take not the path of least resistance but to make themselves heard and to say "I didn't do anything wrong."


Part II

Do you know what is more cowardly than supporting an oppressed person's right and courage to stand up for their human rights from afar? NOT supporting an oppressed person's right and courage to stand up for their human rights from afar.

Stalin, Pol Pot, Hitler, Mao - all of these people would have given your attitude not just two thumbs up but a long slow kiss with a happy ending. When nobody stands up, abuse goes on. Abusers go on. Death goes on. Human rights would simply not exist, your way.

That is all.

[Duckhunter935]

5. Like how you kick your own posts

[Maru Kitteh]

7. Sometimes people tend to do that when they think something is worth talking about. Crazy, isn't it?

But good for you for contributing something so worthwhile

- and kicking it again.

[Tan Gent]

10. Some posts need a little help. I think this one deserved a couple

:D
:kick:

[ccharles000]

12. thank you

B-) OMG I did it again

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. It's too important to let it drop.

[Maru Kitteh]

6. Things like this make me feel so helpless. I literally don't know what I can do

that would have any effect at all. All I can say is Lubna Hussein has my greatest admiration, as well as my thoughts and prayers.

[Odin2005]

11. kick

[Alamuti Lotus]

14. not merely a journalist, but a leftwing writer and information officer for the UN Mission in Sudan

That being the case, it is more likely that there are other issues at the centre of the event rather than a random enforcement of the purity police.