A modern-day Scheherazade in Khartoum

A disturbing case of stupidity and intolerance masquerading as Islamic law in Sudan.

Sudan trouser woman ‘ready for 40,000 lashes’ – Yahoo! News

KHARTOUM (AFP) – A Sudanese journalist facing 40 lashes for wearing “indecent” trousers vowed on the eve of her judgment that she is ready to be whipped 40,000 times in her bid to change the country’s harsh laws.

Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, who works for the media department of the United Nations Mission in Sudan, is to be judged on Tuesday after waiving the immunity granted to UN workers.

She is to be judged under Article 152 of Sudanese law, which promises 40 lashes for anyone “who commits an indecent act which violates public morality or wears indecent clothing.”

According to the article, she’s foregoing her legal right to invoke her special status as a UN staffer to escape this punishment. A modern-day Scheherazade, choosing to undergo a punishment she could easily avoid to protect others.

Cases like this illustrate why I’m opposed to the blanket endorsement of shari’a as it stands today. Those calling for its revival in modern life need to explain which Shari’a they want and why the rest of us needn’t fear its imposition will lead to more such abuses of people’s rights.