Girl, 16, flogged
From Reuters yesterday:
A 16-year-old south Sudanese girl was lashed 50 times after a judge ruled her knee-length skirt was indecent, her lawyer and family said in the latest case to push Sudan’s Islamic law into the spotlight.
The mother of teenager Silva Kashif told Reuters on Friday she was planning to sue the police who made the arrest and the judge who imposed the sentence, as her daughter was underage and a Christian…
Kashif, whose family comes from the south Sudanese town of Yambio, was arrested while walking to the market near her home in the Khartoum suburb of Kalatla last week, her mother Jenty Doro told Reuters.
“She is just a young girl but the policeman pulled her along in the market like she was a criminal. It was wrong,” said Doro. Doro said Khashif was taken to Kalatla court where she was convicted and punished by a female police officer in front of the judge.
“I only heard about it after she was lashed. Later we all sat and cried … People have different religions and that should be taken into account,” she said. Kashif’s lawyer Azhari al-Haj told Reuters he was preparing a case against the police and judge for arresting and sentencing an underage girl. He said according to the law, people under 18 should not be given lashes.
“She was wearing a normal skirt and blouse, worn by thousands of girls. They didn’t contact a guardian and punished her on the spot.” Al-Haj said he was hoping to win compensation and to clear Kashif’s record. “We are also against the law itself. We want the law to be changed.”
