Judge adjourns Sudanese woman's 'trouser trial'

The trial of a Sudanese woman journalist who faces 40 lashes for wearing trousers was adjourned yesterday as police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of demonstrators outside the Khartoum court.

The judge decided to delay the trial to September 7 to determine whether Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein (above), who also works with the United Nations, has legal immunity, defence lawyer Jalal al-Sayyid said.

Ms Hussein, who is in her 30s, has been charged with public indecency after she was arrested last month along with 12 other women who were wearing trousers at a Khartoum restaurant.

She has said that she wants to be tried to challenge a law that decrees a punishment of whipping for people wearing "indecent" clothes, and told a hearing last week that she wished to waive her UN immunity.

But in an apparent disagreement within her defence team, a lawyer nevertheless argued that she had immunity and asked the judge to ignore Ms Hussein's wishes, Jalal al-Sayyid said.

Police dispersed hundreds of women and activists from Sudanese opposition political parties who demonstrated in support of Ms Hussein outside the courthouse after they tried blocking a road, an AFP correspondent reported.

One of Ms Hussein's lawyers, Manal Khawajali, said she was assaulted by police outside the court and would file a complaint.

Emerging from the courtroom, Ms Hussein again insisted she wanted to be tried and said she had resigned from her job at the UN's media office in Sudan so she no longer had immunity.

"The court should not have delayed the trial," she told journalists after the closed-door hearing.

However, Mr Sayyid said the judge decided to ask the Sudanese foreign minstry to determine the immunity issue ahead of her next court date.

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

"I'm ready for anything to happen. I'm absolutely not afraid of the verdict," she told AFP in an interview on Monday.

"If I'm sentenced to be whipped, or to anything else, I will appeal. I will see it through to the end, to the constitutional court if necessary.

"And if the constitutional court says the law is constitutional, I'm ready to be whipped not 40 but 40,000 times," said Ms Hussein, who also works for the left-wing Al-Sahafa newspaper.