Sudan: girl flogged over short skirt

02 Dec 09 | Index Index, minipost, News and features

A 16-year-old schoolgirl in Sudan has been given 50 lashes after a judge ruled that her knee-length skirt was indecent. Silva Kashif is a Christian from the south of the African country. The lashing was issued by authorities in the north where strict Islamic law is enforced. The ruling follows the high-profile case of Lubna Hussein, a female journalist who was sentenced to 40 lashes for wearing trousers. Hussein recently thanked Londoners when she visited the capital at the weekend to highlight the plight of women in hardline Islamic nations. Kashif and her family are planning to sue authoritites. Read more here

Sudan: journalist Lubna Hussein freed

09 Sep 09 | Index Index, minipost, News and features

Journalist Lubna Hussein has been released, apparently “against her wishes”, after the Sudanese journalists union paid the penalty fine of £130 for wearing trousers in public. She had refused to pay the fine herself.

Hussein had initially faced a punishment forty lashes, this was later reduced to a penalty fine which she did not pay and was subsequently imprisoned. Hussein has expressed displeasure at the payment of the fine.
Read more here

Sudanese journalist fined for supporting colleague

24 Jul 09 | Index Index, minipost

In Sudan, Amal Habbani, the editor of the column Tiny Issues in Ajrass Al Horreya (Freedom Bells) newspaper, if being fined US$400,000 after she wrote an article on July 12 supporting her colleague Lubna Al Hussein. Hussein was recently tried for sensational dress. Both she and Habbani argue that this prosecution is an oppression of women.