Sudan: Call to halt case brought against journalist Lubna Ahmad Hussein

Hussein and 12 other women were arrested in Khartoum on July 3, 2009, for wearing trousers. Ten of the women have already received punishments of 10 lashes each, and charges were brought against three others, including Hussein, under Clause 152 of Sudanese criminal law that mandates up to 40 lashes and/or a fine for ‘inappropriate dress’ as well as for conduct that is considered to contravene accepted norms. These actions of the public order police (similar to the the religious police in Saudi Arabia) systematically violate the human rights of Sudanese women.

The WLUML network calls for a halt to the court proceedings under article 58 in the Sudanese Criminal Proceeding Act that gives the minister of Justice the authority to stop the trial. WLUML further demands that article 152 be abolished or reformed because it is in violation of fundamental human rights as enshrined in international law, as well as being in breach of The Bill of Rights in the Sudanese Interim Constitution 2005.

Hussein has brought the issue to the attention of the public, and distributed 500 invitations to journalists and friends to her court proceedings and to the flogging to which she is likely be sentenced, explaining in an interview with Al-Arabiyya TV, that she had given out the invitations because otherwise no one would believe that she was to be flogged for wearing ordinary clothes: "I wanted the punishment to be executed in the presence of observers, so that they see for themselves why I was being flogged."

Imposed dress-codes upon women, whether enforced by legal frameworks or non-state actors, are not only about clothing. Dress-codes speak to an underlying desire to control women’s bodies and autonomy, examples of which can be seen across regions and cultures. We urge your immediate attention to this extreme manifestation of controlling women’s bodies and autonomy through their clothing.