Sudan Journalist Freed After Fine is Paid

Tuesday, September 08, 2009
20:58 Mecca time, 17:58 GMT

Sudan ‘trousers case’ woman freed

Al-Hussein she was ‘not happy’ that the fine had been paid on her behalf to get her released

A Sudanese woman who was imprisoned for wearing trousers deemed “indecent” has been released after the country’s journalist union paid a $200 fine on her behalf.

Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, who had been found guilty of flouting the country’s decency laws, said after being released on Tuesday that the fine had been paid without her permission.

“I am not happy. I told all my friends and family not to pay the fine,” she said.

A Khartoum court on Monday ordered al-Hussein to pay a fine or face a month in jail, but she was spared a possible penalty of 40 lashes.

Al-Hussein refused to pay, preferring to go to jail as a means of challenging Sudan’s public order act.

Al-Hussein, a former reporter working for the United Nations at the time of her arrest, said she believed there had been political pressure to free her and bring an end to the case, which has brought attention from media and rights organisations worldwide.

Mohieddin Titawi, the chairman of the journalists’ union, said his group had paid the fine because it had a responsibility to “protect journalists when they are in prison”.

Clothing offences

Al-Hussein was arrested during a raid at a restaurant in Khartoum in July for wearing a pair of green slacks which she later wore in the court hearings.

Ten other women arrested along with al-Hussein have already been whipped for their offence.

Al-Hussein and two others decided to appeal in protest of Article 152 of the Sudanese penal code, which decrees up to 40 lashes for anyone “who commits an indecent act which violates public morality or wears indecent clothing”.

Al-Hussein has said her clothes were respectable and that she did not break the law.

She has also said Article 152 “is both against the constitution and sharia [Islamic law]” and that nothing in the Quran says that women should be flogged over what they wear.

Last year nearly 43,000 women were detained for indecent clothing offences in Khartoum region, according to al-Hussein’s supporters.

Women’s groups have complained that the law gives no clear definition of indecent dress, leaving the decision of whether to arrest a woman up to individual police officers.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

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Madagascar Prime Minister Names Government, Opposition Voices Rejection

Madagascar PM names govt, opposition rejects it

Tue Sep 8, 2009 8:25pm IST

President, prime minister remain in post, opposition mulls setting up parallel government

By Alain Iloniaina

ANTANANARIVO, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Madagascar’s Prime Minister Monja Roindefo named a new government on Tuesday which the opposition immediately refused to recognise on the grounds it flouted a previously agreed power-sharing deal.

The oil and mineral-rich island has been rocked by turmoil since Andry Rajoelina ousted former leader Marc Ravalomanana from power in a March coup, scaring off tourists and hurting the economy.

“The new government is not for one party alone. It is for everyone. For me, all four movements are represented,” the prime minister said in a televised statement.

Under the terms of a deal agreed last month, the country’s power-brokers were supposed to share out the top posts of president, vice president and prime minister to see the island country through to presidential polls.

Roindefo on Tuesday named Rajemison Rakotomahro, a former president of the upper house and one-time close ally of Ravalomanana, as vice president but kept himself and Rajoelina in the posts of prime minister and president.

“I vigorously contest the creation of this government that has been decided upon unilaterally,” Ravalomanana told a thousand-strong crowd in central Antananarivo by telephone from exile.

Opposition movements said the nominations contravened the power-sharing deal that Rajoelina and Ravalomanana signed in Mozambique with former presidents Didier Ratsiraka and Albert Zafy.

They said they would convene on Wednesday with the intention of establishing a parallel government.

“The three movements will meet to put in place the institutions agreed under the Maputo agreement,” Yves Rakotoarison, a former member of parliament from Ravalomanana’s party, told supporters.

Roindefo appointed a second former associate of Ravalomanana, former defence minister Cecile Manorohanpa, as one of three vice prime ministers.

The Ministry of Mines, Oil and Gas went to Mamy Ratovomalala, a former minister during the presidency of Didier Ratsiraka. (Writing by Richard Lough; editing by David Clarke and Sonya Hepinstall)

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