Sudanese Journalist Faces Flogging

Meet Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, a hijab-wearing journalist who writes for the left-wing Al-Sahafa newspaper in Sudan, and also works for the United Nations Mission in Sudan. According to the Telegraph, on July 3 Hussein was arrested at a Khartoum restaurant along with 12 other women for wearing "indecent" clothes (trousers) and will appear in front of a judge this morning. Ten of the women have already been flogged 10 times each for wearing trousers, despite the fact that they came from animist and Christian areas of the country where sharia law does not apply. Hussein faces 40 lashes and a $100 fine. Another woman journalist, Amal Habbani, faces a defamation suit and a fine of up to several hundred thousand dollars after writing an article condemning Hussein's treatment. A local human-rights group said the suit against Habbani stemmed from her claim that Hussein's arrest was "not about fashion but a political tactic to intimidate and terrorize opponents."