The 19-year-old girl, Fardos Al-Toum, was one of 10 young students arrested outside a church (after a church service) in Khartoum for wearing jeans and long shirts which was termed "indecent dress." That was in June, but I heard now that this young Christian lady has been sentenced by a court in Sudan to 20 lashes and a fine. Her crime? Wearing trousers.
Rights group Amnesty International has started an online campaign in the United Kingdom asking people to add their name to a letter to the Sudanese authorities in support of Al-Toum. More than 40,000 people have already done so.
"Flogging and other forms of corporal punishment should never be used as punishment -- they...
constitute torture, and should not be inflicted as part of a justice system," the rights group said.
"Moreover, these women have committed no crime -- they have instead been subjected to random, vaguely worded, discriminatory laws."
According to Amnesty International UK, the women were accused of violating Article 152 of Sudan's 1991 Criminal Act, which forbids "indecent or immoral dress" and carries a punishment of up to 40 lashes and a fine.
When Al-Toum showed up to court to answer the charge, the judge said the clothing she was wearing then was also indecent and sentenced her to an additional fine, plus 20 lashes, the lawyer said.
Mustafa said he had lodged an appeal against the lashes, but it is still pending, with no scheduled decision at the moment.
Five of the women were ordered to pay fines. Two of them, including Al-Toum, had to pay 500 Sudanese pounds (about $82) and three were told to pay 50 pounds.
Four of them were cleared of the charge and immediately released. One other is due to stand trial on Sunday.
Although the law can be applied equally to men or women, the rights group says, in practice "it is disproportionately women who are discriminated against" under it.
-CNN
9 comments:
Na wah o, thank God I'm not from Sudan or even all these Arabian countries, as decently as the lady in the pic is dressed is still termed indecent, these people see their women as animals even animals have better right than their women, tueh!
Hmmmm.....that's torture!! Am just imagining the pain...gosh
The world will be so peaceful without this people i swear down.
Don't understand a thing. Dis Sudan ppl are so into religion as if is dia life. Muslim dis, Christian that. Rubbish country.
Na wa o..this is too much,m sure its bcos they are christians...its sudan sha
Why did she wear them? To test d rulers abi? She don make her statement. Good. So it's time to dance to the music
Dis kinda news is jst sounding like d country's name....Sudan
What is she meant to wear? That their black agbada? I thought they are interested in covering up. Wearing trousers is one of them?Abi she De show bumbum ni?
Reminds me of when my campus fellowship pastor Called my DL parents and told them I had started wearing trousers and fixing.
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