Lubna Hussein: ‘I bought a whip for the judge’

The journalist Lubna Hussein, who was detained by the Sudanese public order police for wearing trousers,  bought her own whip for the judge to punish her eventually with 40 lashes. For Radio Dabanga she told: “I went today to the court wearing exactly the same trousers at the day when I was caught by the public order police. So everybody will be able to see whether this is decent dress or not. I want to give hope to all women, especially the women in Darfur who suffer so much. I know your misery, although I have nothing more to offer than my sincere compassion”. She told Radio Dabanga in the interview: “I am not fearing physical pain as a consequence of my conviction and the battle for women’s rights in Sudan. I’m calling on the government to provide schools and health facilities for girls and boys instead of bothering women about their dress. I hope once to live in a stable and peaceful Sudan where government can work to provide schools for kids and hospitals for patients and where all citizens are equal before the law”. Lubna has resigned from her job at the UN, insisting that she rejects any kind of impunity and protection. “If I enjoy impunity because of a UN job what about the vast number of the Sudanese women who are not UN employees. Can they be lashed?”, she adds. She says that she has the courage and self confidence to face the trial. ` I am not afraid for being lashed. I have invited a lot of friends and sympathizers to attend the lashing`. She calls herself even ‘fortunate’ compared to other women. ‘I have the financial ability to pay lawyers to defend me; others cannot. My lawyer has succeeded in convincing the judges to return the case to the police for further investigation. Thirteen other women who were arrested on the same night could not afford to have lawyers to represent them and because of that the judge ordered them to be lashed and fined’.