Sudan woman jailed for not paying trouser fine

Sudanese woman journalist Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein was sent to jail on Monday after refusing to pay a $200 fine imposed for wearing trousers deemed "indecent," one of her lawyers said.

"She has been taken to the women's prison in Omdurman," the twin city of Khartoum, Kamal Omar told AFP.

Earlier on Monday, a Khartoum court spared Hussein, who has vowed to appeal against any conviction, a whipping for wearing "indecent" trousers but instead fined her the 500 Sudanese pounds ($200).

"I won't pay. I'd rather go to prison," Hussein told AFP by telephone before she was taken to jail, though her lawyers said they would try to persuade her to pay up.

Under Sudanese law, she could have been sentenced to a maximum of 40 lashes for "indecency" after being arrested with 12 other women wearing trousers in a Khartoum restaurant in July.

Hussein's case was seen as a test of Sudan's Islamic decency regulations, which many women activists say are vague and give individual police officers undue latitude to determine what is acceptable clothing.

A former reporter who was working for the United Nations at the time of her arrest, Hussein has publicized her case, posing in loose trousers for photos and calling for media support.

I won't pay. I'd rather go to prison

Lubna Hussein

Before the court session Sudanese women's rights activists scuffled with Islamists and riot police on Monday before Hussein's court session.

Police quickly cleared the scene outside the Khartoum court, beating some protesters with batons and detaining dozens of women supporting Hussein, whose case has attracted world attention since her arrest at a party in July with 12 others.

"Lubna has given us a chance. She is very brave. Thousands of girls have been beaten since the 1990s, but Lubna is the first one not to keep silent," protester Sawsan Hassan el-Showaya told Reuters.

Lubna has given us a chance. She is very brave. Thousands of girls have been beaten since the 1990s, but Lubna is the first one not to keep silent

Protester Sawsan Hassan el-Showaya

Police beat back protesters

Around 150 protesters, mostly women and including some in trousers, had gathered in a traffic island to wave banners outside the Khartoum court, hemmed in by heavy security and riot police armed with batons and shields.

The women were later joined by dozens of men in traditional Islamic dress who shouted religious slogans and denounced Hussein and her supporters, describing them as prostitutes and demanding a harsh punishment for Hussein.

Scuffles erupted, and one bearded protester grabbed a paper banner and ripped it to pieces. Riot police with batons moved in, beating back protesters. They later loaded dozens of women into a van and drove off.

"They are beating us. They are trying to provoke us into violent action so they can react and clear us off the streets ... I never thought this would happen," Nahed Goubia, a surgeon in a white trouser suit, said before riot police cleared the area.

Defense lawyer Nabil Adib Abdalla has previously said the law on indecent dress was so wide it contravened Hussein's right to a fair trial. Hussein challenged the charges, arguing her clothes were respectable and so she did not break the law.

At the last hearing on August 4, riot police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of people demonstrating outside the Khartoum courtroom in protest at the trial, including activists from opposition parties.

They are beating us. They are trying to provoke us into violent action so they can react and clear us off the streets ... I never thought this would happen

Nahed Goubia, a surgeon in a white trouser suit

Waiving her immunity

On Friday, London-based rights group Amnesty International urged the Khartoum government to withdraw the charges, saying the law used to justify flogging women for wearing clothes deemed "indecent" should be repealed.

Monday's hearing was to determine whether Hussein, who works for a Sudanese newspaper as well as with the United Nations press office in Khartoum, has legal immunity.

Hussein has said she wants to be tried to challenge the law, and that she wished to waive her U.N. immunity.

Ten women have already been whipped for the same offence, including Christians, and Hussein has said she will fight a guilty verdict and the law itself.

Her case has triggered widespread outrage at home and abroad.

I'm ready for anything to happen. I'm absolutely not afraid of the verdict

Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein