A Sudanese woman journalist was on Monday spared a whipping for wearing trousers, but a court instead fined Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein 500 Sudanese pounds ($200).
“I won’t pay. I’d rather go to prison,” Hussein told Agence France-Presse by telephone, though her lawyers said they would try to persuade her to pay up.
Speaking as they emerged from the hearing which was barred to the press, witnesses said the court had ruled that Hussein be jailed for a month if she failed to pay the fine.
Under Sudanese law, she could have been sentenced to a maximum of 40 lashes for “indecency” after being arrested with 12 other women wearing trousers in a Khartoum restaurant in July.
About 100 supporters chanted slogans and waved placards saying “No to whipping!” in support of Hussein as she entered the hearing in the late morning, her hair covered in a traditional Sudanese scarf.
At least one woman was beaten by police and about 40 were detained before police dispersed the protest amid strict security around the courtroom, an Agence France-Presse correspondent at the scene reported.
Islamist counter-demonstrators cried “Allahu Akbar” (God is greater) and hurled insults at Hussein sympathisers.
“They arrested 48 of us. Some of us were hurt and one is bleeding,” a demonstrator told Agence France-Presse after the incident, which the media were barred from filming.
Yasser Arman, a senior official of the south’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, a former rebel group, told Agence France-Presse that all 48 were released later.
Ten of the women arrested in July on the indecent dress charge, including Christians, were subsequently summoned by the police and each given 10 lashes.
Hussein could have suffered similar punishment, but instead she challenged the charge and began a publicity campaign to try to have the law changed.
Article 152 of Sudan’s 1991 penal code — which came into force two years after the coup that brought President Omar al-Bashir to power — stipulates a maximum of 40 lashes for people convicted of wearing “indecent clothing”.
On Friday London-based rights group Amnesty International urged the Khartoum government to withdraw the charges against Hussein, saying the law used to justify flogging women for wearing clothes deemed “indecent” should be repealed.
Hussein could have sought legal immunity because of her role as a United Nations press officer in Khartoum.
But she also works for the left-wing al-Sahafa newspaper, and said earlier she wanted a trial in order to challenge the law, and that she wished to waive her United Nations immunity.
“I’m ready for anything to happen. I’m absolutely not afraid of the verdict,” she told Agence France-Presse in an interview on August 3.
“If I’m sentenced to be whipped, or to anything else, I will appeal. I will see it through to the end, to the constitutional court if necessary.
“And if the constitutional court says the law is constitutional, I’m ready to be whipped not 40 but 40 000 times.”
Hussein’s case has triggered widespread outrage at home and abroad.
At the last hearing on August 4, riot police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of people including activists from opposition parties demonstrating outside the courtroom.
On August 11 Hussein said the authorities had banned her from travelling to Lebanon to take part in a talk show. — AFP