Flogging Delayed, New Trial Date Ordered
Today, Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein went to receive her 40 lashes in Khartoum. The world press and scores of female supporters were watching. I was watching, so to speak, from afar. However, the judge delayed her trial until September 7th. He first wants to consult the Foreign Ministry on “whether al-Hussein is immune from the charges because she was formerly a United Nations employee.”
The delay disapointed al-Hussein. She refused to claim any UN immunity. Al-Hussein was ready to receive “40,000 lashes if such punishment was found to be constitutional.” She is quoted as saying some fairly thrilling, very bold things:
“I’m ready for anything to happen. I’m absolutely not afraid of the verdict…Tens of thousands of women and girls have been whipped for their clothes these last 20 years. It’s not rare in Sudan…I want people to know. I want these women’s voices to be heard.”
“Whip me if you dare…Flogging is a terrible thing, very painful and a humiliation for the victim. But I am not afraid of being flogged. I will not back down. I want to stand up for the right of women, and now the eyes of the world are on this case I have a chance to draw attention to the plight of women in Sudan…The acts of this regime have no connection with the real Islam.”
What the Hell happened? What great sin did al-Hussein commit?
On July 3, 2009, Sudan’s Morality police arrested al-Hussein for wearing trousers that were allegedly “too tight” and an allegedly “too-transparent” blouse. The fact that she was also wearing a headscarf did not spare her. They publicly leered, menaced, humiliated, and then arrested her and twelve or thirteen other women journalists, mainly Christians from the south, in a restaurant. The police beat them all about the head while in custody, then sentenced the women to ten to forty lashes in public for the crime of “indecent clothing.”
Ten women, mainly Christians who live in the south where Shari’ah law does not even apply, opted to receive ten lashes. Al-Hussein appealed and then invited 500 people to watch her sentencing and flogging.
Hussein, a widow, refused to plead guilty. She was put in a cell together with men and forced to crouch down between the legs of the morality police on the way to jail—not very Islamic behavior in her view. Hussein does not believe that the Koran or hadith justify flogging a woman or that trousers are religiously forbidden to women. Al-Hussein says:
“These laws were made by this current regime which uses it to humiliate the people and especially the women. These tyrants are here to distort the real image of Islam.”
She opposes Article 152 of Sudanese law which mandates 40 lashes for someone who “commits an indecent act which violates public morality or wears indecent clothing.”
Lubna al-Hussein’s bravery is spectacular. Hussein understands that she is dealing with the same rogue regime that has systematically been perpetuating genocide and “gender cleansing” (repeated, public gang-rapes) on the black African people of southern Sudan. She knows what these evil men are capable of doing and yet, despite this, perhaps because of it, she dares to expose them and to defy this regime.
Please recall that the President of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, is the first head of state to face an international arrest warrant for war crimes.
And then you have our fearless leader President Obama assuring Muslim women they have the ‘right’ to wear the hijab. Next he will say that they have the right to not wear loose fitting pants.
Please Ms. Chesler, it’s the culture. Hush.
Wow I can’t wait to hear the justification for ignoring this one.
Just saw this come up on the AP and knew I could count on Ms. Chesler to be on top of it.
And where, pray tell, is our President and his crew of cronnies? Painfully, and predictably silent. It’s quite something when you can count on the admininstration to have everything upsidedown and backwards, speaking out on the wrong side of issues, or saying nothing at all.
“Is the United States going to comment on any non-Israeli examples of injustice?”
One can only hope that Barry Rubin asked this question in a tongue in cheek manner. Barack Obama is existentially committed to the notion that white America is to be blamed for the vast majority of the world’s ills. The reactionary Islamic leaders would be progressive and enlightened if only our country hadn’t interfered in their affairs. Lubna al-Hussein bewilders Obama. In his heart of hearts, he concludes that she must be at fault. Thus, nothing will be said. She will be ignored.
I suppose all you Lib’s out there think we should ‘tolerate’ Sudan’s right to beat women for wearing pants. Just like we should ‘tolerate’ women in Afghanistan being stoned to death in soccer fields for going out in public alone. Oh and let’s not forget how the people of Iraq were better off under Sadaam in Iraq, you know, when his sons were getting their jollies by kidnapping and raping women on their wedding day.
Where is NOW now? They have gotten so stuck on free abortions that they forget about the suffering of women around the world at the hands of Islam.
Lubna Hussein is a hero for all women. I would hope that our new president, his Secretary of State, members of Congress would publicly support her, endorse her. However, I won’t hold my breath.
“The acts of this regime have no connection with the real Islam.”
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I would disagree with this since these practices go on throughout the islamic world. Nevertheless, I laud Lubna’s courage.
Some people mistakenly thought that Barack Obama would have a genuine interest in improving the lives of the dark skinned people of the world. They conveniently overlooked the indifference he has shown towards his own relatives in Kenya. Obama only cares about the Third Word’s inhabitants if he can exploit them on behalf of his own war on the West. He is man with many “unresolved issues.” One simply cannot listen to the weekly sermons of a racist pastor if this isn’t the case.
“The acts of this regime have no connection with the real Islam.”
This evidence that this statement is a crock is building up daily all over the world, wherever this “religion of peace” and its associated Islamo-Fascists are in control. There is no end to the sicko crap that we read about on a regular basis, such that it’s no longer even a surprise to us.
Heroism like this inspires me with hope for humanity.
Not a feeling I have so often.
This lady is indeed very courageous and we should all support her in whatever way we can. I can recommend a site snti-mullah where there is a picture of a woman who has received lashes and it is appalling indeed. Furthermore, can we not expose the other mutilations muslims are dishing out to women, all of which are horrific, again anti-mullah has much evidence, and then lets move on to female genital mutilation, Somalia being the main culprit. So glad people such as Phyllis are there. Thank you Phyllis. Spread the word.
I am currently in Jerusalem, where some Muslim women wearing traditional garments walk down Ben Yehuda Street and where others are liberated enough to practice medicine. Nevertheless, many feminists hate Israel and are silent about the abuses that take place in the world of Islam.
For some time I womdered if it was Arab culture or Islam that was the source of the depravity that locks them in the Eighth Century . The more I look at it and see how Islam has spread across the world I have come to realize that the problem lies with Islam. It is a form of madness that likes to control and hurt people.
Maybe that is why Islamists and Communists get along so well, both hate freedom and happiness.
The only thing you got wrong in the article was the label.
She’s a FEMININE hero not feminist!
She has embarrassed the Sudanese authorities into delaying her trial. Perhaps those same authorities are hoping that someone will, in the meantime, kill her thereby taking the case off their hands.
The mad men of the middle east fear women. Long before the femifascists blew on the scene as the Marxist front group they are, women since the beginning of time knew their real power. The hand that rocks the cradle DOES RULE THE WORLD. Imagine that society if women started to withhold sex, and all the others feminine comforts men have sought since he was created. They know the power of women and that is why they have to be beaten and contained. My grandmother was more liberated than many of the women of today and she knew the real secrets to winding a man around her little finger. She enjoyed the benfits and her husband did too. The wisdom was passed down throughout the ages until the femifascists upended this knowledge and ecouraged men to become more like women and women to become more like men. Their ultimate goal was to turn both off to each other, and thus weaken the desire to form families and the only thing that stands between liberty and marxism. It was Friedrich Engels who desired the elimination of the family and cultural marxism in drag known as feminism was the tool.
Those guilty of misogny never look at the man
for his role in the mess.
Those guilty of misandry never look at the woman for her role in the mess.
Both are guilty of taking for granted the good aspects of male and female.
She’s a FEMININE hero not feminist!
The word “feminist” has been downgraded, thanks in no small part to the reluctance of Western feminists to speak out against oppression of Muslim women or women from ethnic minorities. It has also been associated with trivial cases of opportunist “victimhood”.
If “feminist” means anything, it surely applies to Lubna Ahmed Al-Hussein. I was pleased to see her, and the equally brave Ayaan Hirsi Ali, described as feminist in the London Times today. See here for more.
Perhaps they, and Phyllis Chesler herself, have reclaimed the word.
Feminism is strong and now will change the Saharabian countries.
Expose the cruelty Phyllis, such good sister to us all. These sexually obsessed males are just angry for not getting any. May be the cruelty to women is a selling point of Islam to spead to other countries. Men yearn to rule over the women in gods name. Have life and death power over women, sex on demand. Divorce as they they please. Islam let men whip women, degrade them, and what is this you said ” she was forced to walk between the legs of these morality policemen? What is that actually??I cannot evene picture it so absurd..
You ask…”Will Western feminists come to her aid as readily as Sudanese women activists apparently have?”…Well we are certainly trying to get the word out, to support Lubna and to send a strong message to the Sudanese government that we strongly disapprove of the flogging of Lubna Ahmed Hussein….or any human being…over their clothing choices especially. If only it were so simple as that however! We object to the threatening use of aggression and the use of emotional and physical violence of any world citizen, male or female…that is oppressive and bullying…and that is against any understanding of world citizen human rights to freedom of choice. Lubna…we support you!
Ms. Chesler might want to change the headline given this essay. “Feminist Hero” is a painfully dissonant phrase. Is “heroine” ideologically unacceptable? If so, consider something gender-neutral like “icon,” please. Anything would be better than the current version.
“women since the beginning of time knew their real power”.
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This is code for keeping women in the home and out of the work force. Real power is financial independence and not having the need for a man to take care of you. There is no real power or liberation when you are economically dependent on someone else. To say your grandmother was more liberated than women today is ridiculous.
Having said this, I certainly do not support the leftist agenda of feminist groups and I’m appalled and disgusted by their silence regarding the islamic treatment of women.
On July 3, 2009, Sudan’s Morality police arrested al-Hussein for wearing trousers that were allegedly “too tight” and an allegedly “too-transparent” blouse. The fact that she was also wearing a headscarf did not spare her. They publicly leered, menaced, humiliated, and then arrested her and twelve or thirteen other women journalists, mainly Christians from the south, in a restaurant. The police beat them all about the head while in custody, then sentenced the women to ten to forty lashes in public for the crime of “indecent clothing.”
Ten women, mainly Christians who live in the south where Shari’ah law does not even apply, opted to receive ten lashes. Al-Hussein appealed and then invited 500 people to watch her sentencing and flogging.
Two targets in one for these malicious mental midget muslim males, Christians and Women.
Do those thugs remind anyone of recent events in USA?
Beating your fellow countrymen/woman into submission is the the current US admin and hardline muslim way. I see a pattern here.
Stepping back from the planet, I see this struggle as being a war over women. George Bush is a man who loves women, citing his wife, mother and Condi as the most important people in his life. He brought legal rights to 26 million women in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Sunni Awakening was precipitated by Al Qaida demands for wives, which terribly offended tribal leaders. I’ve read that we are winning over Afghan tribal leaders with Viagra.
The left and especially NOW are aghast at the possibility GWB might have broken through and won the most important war in the clash of Islam and Christianity, ever. It could turn out to be the single most courageous act of a man in 1300 years if it actually works out.
And now Obama has toned down the fight for democracy and human rights in the name of “realism”. How despicable.
I have a high regard for her courageous stance in facing this vicious and bloody regime El Bashiir. Gender disparity in the Sudan has taken deeper roots in the past 20 years.
I would like to make a correction to this article. Lubna did not accept the flogging sentence while the 10 other women who were in her party did. She did not go wlllingly to be flogged as the aricle suggests nor was she dissappointed that her flogging was postponed. The real heroic act here is that she REFUSED flogging and chose instead to take the matter to the highest courts. She was courageous in that she publicized her case and shared it with the world while the other women chose to receive their punishment in silence.
pajamasmedia.com,how do you do it?