40 lashes for women diners
A group of Sudanese women diners face up to 40 lashes – for wearing trousers. The women have been accused of dressing ‘indecently’ while dining at a popular restaurant in Khartoum, the capital.
Up to 30 police stormed the building without warning and arrested those wearing trousers, 13 women in all. Some have pleaded guilty - so they could ‘get it over with - and received 10 lashes. Others though have not admitted their ‘guilt’ and could subsequently receive 40 lashes if tried and convicted by a court.
One of them, journalist Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, told how the group of policemen stormed into the building without warning and arrested all the women wearing trousers. ‘I was wearing trousers and a blouse and the ten girls who were lashed were wearing like me, there was no difference,’ Ms Hussein told the BBC’s Arabic service. Ms Hussein is a well-known reporter who writes a weekly column called Men Talk for Sudanese papers. She also works for the United Nations Mission in Sudan.
The country is split in two – Muslim in Khartoum and the north and Christian in the south. Several of those punished were from the south, although non-Muslims are not supposed to be subject to Sharia law, even in Islamic areas.
From the Daily Mail
