SUDAN: Sudan Detains Supporters of Woman on Trial

Sudanese police rounded up about 40 women protesters Monday outside a courthouse where they were showing support for a female journalist on trial for wearing trousers in public.

Some of the women protesters were wearing pants themselves.

Security was tight as Lubna Hussein's trial resumed. She could receive 40 lashes and pay a fine if found guilty of violating Sudan's indecency law which follows a strict interpretation of Islam.

Hussein was among 13 women arrested July 3 in a raid by the public order police on a popular cafe in Khartoum. Ten of the women were fined and flogged two days later. But Hussein and two others decided to go to trial.

The London-based Amnesty International called on the Sudanese government to withdraw the charges against Hussein and repeal the law which justifies "abhorrent" penalties.

Human rights and political groups in Sudan say the law is in violation of the 2005 constitution drafted after a peace deal ended two decades of war between the predominantly Muslim north and the Christian and animist south Sudan.

Hussein, who was released on bail during the hearings, has sought to draw international attention to her case and battle the law she has described as un-Islamic and oppressive to women.

The Amnesty statement issued Friday said Sudan had been urged to amend the law which permits flogging, on the grounds that it is state-sanctioned torture, after eight women were flogged in public in 2003 leaving permanent scars on the women, Amnesty reported. The women had been picnicking with male friends.

As a U.N. staffer, Hussein should have immunity from prosecution but she has opted to resign to stand trial in any case.

The judge adjourned the trial last month to seek clarification from the Foreign Ministry on whether her prosecution is in violation of the diplomatic immunity, despite her resignation from her job.

In a column published in the British daily the Guardian Friday, Hussein said her case is not an isolated one, but is a showcase of repressive laws in a country with a long history of civil conflicts.

"When I think of my trial, I pray that my daughters will never live in fear of these police ... We will only be secure once the police protect us and these laws are repealed," she wrote.