Susan notes: this morning I bought my second favourite print publication in the world (my first is Ode Magazine). I've been reading the Globe and Mail, one of Canada's two national newspapers for years, and it's a close second to Ode, which is my all-time fave.

Today, "The Globe" featured a full-page photograph of an Afghan woman on the front page. This week it's running a multimedia series on women in Afganistan. The series started today and it's going to be absolutely amazing!!! AWR highly recommends that you check it out... here's the intro:

Banned for 180 years, but still not eradicated....

Susan notes: September 8 new update: Al Arabiya says journalist union pays USD 209 fine on Hussein's behalf and she is freed (via Ghassan Jaber).

Susan notes: September 8 reports say Hussein has been fined, but she refuses to pay. See links below.

Sudanese journalist Lubna Hussein is about to be tried for the crime of wearing trousers in public (Reuters pic right). She faces a possible 40 lashes and an unlimited fine.

In a Guardian UK article, she says:

In fact the director of police has admitted that 43,000 women were arrested in Khartoum state in 2008 for clothing offences.

When asked,he couldn't say how many of these women had been flogged.

And it's not just about clothing.

After my arrest, two girls were arrested in a public place and the police discovered that their mobile phones had video clips of scenes from the hugely popular Arab soap Noor and Mohammad in which the main characters kiss each other. The girls were charged with pornography and given 40 lashes.

A September 7 article in The Malaysian Insider reports:

“This is not about pants”, Lubna Hussein insists. “It is about principles”.

“A woman should be able to wear what she wants and not be publicly whipped for it”, says Mrs. Hussein, a defiant Sudanese journalist, and today  her belief will be put to the test.

Mrs. Hussein has been charged in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, with indecent dress, a crime that carries a US$100 (RM350) fine and 40 lashings. She was arrested in July, along with 12 other women, who were caught at a cafe wearing trousers.

Hundreds of Sudanese women — many wearing pants — swarmed in front of the court where the trial was supposed to take place, protesting that the law was unfair. Twice now, the trial has been postponed. Some of the other women arrested with Mrs. Hussein have pleaded guilty and were lashed as a result. Past floggings have been carried out with plastic whips that leave permanent scars.

“The flogging, yes, it causes pain,” Mrs. Hussein said. “But more important, it is an insult. This is why I want to change the law.”

Convicted for wearing trousers (Sept 8, ABC News)

Lubna Hussein/Guardian.co.uk

Battle in Sudan Over Women's Dress/The Malaysian Insider

Related articles:
Sudanese journalist faces flogging

A battered housewife, a Muslim widow and an illiterate mother of four are among a group of Indian women looking to carve out a living by breaking into the male preserve of New Delhi taxi drivers.

Hailing from some of the poorest quarters of the Indian capital, they are part of plans to launch the city's first radio taxi-service run by women, in time for the October 2010 Commonwealth Games.

The project is the brainchild of Meenu Vadera of the Azad Foundation, a voluntary group that works with disadvantaged women whose employment prospects - if they exist at all - are usually limited to the world of domestic help.

"We have trained one batch of nine women and the training of another batch of 11 is underway," said Vadera, who aims to have five taxis on the road by February and a fleet of 20 by the time the Games begin.

Read the full article by:
Elisabeth Roche
Maktoob Business.com

When Lulwah Abdul Rahman protested against her father’s rejection of all would-be husbands because they were from outside her tribe, her life and career were shattered.

Her father locked her in the family home, revoked her right to work at a bank and beat her. When she filed a case to lift her father’s guardianship, he consigned her to a mental institution to “discipline” her, she says.

“The laws and the society confer absolute power on the father and brother, regardless of how cruel or incompetent they are,’’ says Ms Abdul Rahman, 28, who has fled her home and currently lives in a shelter for abused women. “No laws are codified, so your destiny depends on the judge’s mood and background. He could send me home, even knowing that I might be killed.’’