Trouser-wearing woman freed

A Sudanese woman jailed for wearing trousers deemed indecent in a landmark court case was freed on Tuesday after the country's journalist union paid a court-imposed $209 fine, the head of the media body said. Lubna al Hussein was convicted on indecency charges on Monday in a case that has attracted worldwide outcry, and was ordered to pay a fine or face a month in jail, but was spared a harsher penalty of lashings. Under Sudanese law, she could have been sentenced to a maximum of 40 lashes for "indecency" under Islamic principles after being arrested with 12 other women wearing trousers in a Khartoum restaurant in July. Women in trousers are not a rare sight in Sudan but the authorities can take offence at trousers which reveal too much of a woman's shape, leading to accusations from rights groups that judgment is arbitrary. Ten of the women arrested in July on the indecent dress charge, including Christians, were subsequently summoned by the police and each given 10 lashes. Hussein could have suffered a similar punishment, but instead the journalist challenged the charge and began a publicity campaign to try to have the law changed. More than 100 supporters, mostly women in trousers, chanted slogans and waved placards saying "No to whipping!" in support of Ms Hussein as she entered the hearing, her hair covered in a traditional Sudanese scarf. At least one woman was beaten by police and about 40 were detained before police dispersed the protest amid strict security around the courtroom, a correspondent at the scene reported. Islamist counter-demonstrators cried "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) and hurled insults at Hussein sympathisers. "They arrested 48 of us. Some of us were hurt and one is bleeding," a demonstrator said after the incident, which the media were barred from filming. Yasser Arman, a senior official of the south's Sudan People's Liberation Movement, a former rebel group, said that all 48 were released later. *AFP and Reuters