UN employee on trial in Sudan for violating dress code faces flogging

(NECN/ABC) – In the African nation of Sudan, a clash of cultures in a courtroom. A woman who works for the United Nations is being prosecuted there, for wearing pants in public. Police arrested her and 12 other women for breaking Sudan’s Islamic dress code. She facing 40 lashes if convicted. Lubna Hussein appeared at her own trial wearing pants – the very act that got her arrested. Article 152 in Sudanese Law prohibits women from wearing pants in public. It falls under “indecent acts” according to Sudan’s strict interpretation of Islamic law. Lubna, a former journalist who works for the United Nations, says on July 3rd about 15 policemen came into a cafe, selected about a dozen women wearing pants and took them to the station where they were flogged. As a UN employee, Lubna could be granted immunity. Instead, she has chosen to quit her job and stand trial to challenge Sudan’s decency laws that she says are used to harass women. If convicted, she could get 40 lashes. In New York, the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, said he was deeply concerned and that flogging is a human rights violation, but Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir is unlikely to heed any warning. He has ignored a warrant for his own arrest for war crimes in Darfur. Some say Lubna’s case is a ploy by President al-Bashir to win favor with Sudan’s Islamic fundamentalists in a bid to hold onto power. Her trial is on hold until August 4th. The judge called the recess to give her time to formally resign from her UN job. Gloria Riviera, ABC News, London