UN Woman: 'Flogging Is Men Behaving Badly'

A former UN worker who faces possible lashing in Sudan for wearing pants blasted flogging as an "insult" to humans that has nothing to do with Islam and everything to do with "men mistreating women," she tells the Guardian. Lubna Ahmed Hussein and 12 other women were busted recently as they listened to a singer in a Khartoum club. Those who pleaded guilty to "indecent" dress for wearing slacks were flogged. But Hussein is determined to fight the charges.

She quit her job as a UN information officer in order to relinquish immunity from prosecution. "It is my chance to defend the women of Sudan," said Hussein. "Women are often arrested and flogged because of what they wear. Islam does not say whether a woman can wear trousers or not. And neither does Islam flog women because of what they wear. It is not about religion, it is about men treating women badly." (More Lubna Ahmed Hussein stories.)