KHARTOUM |August1,2009 A female Sudanese journalist facing 40 lashes for wearing trousers in public in violation of the country's strict Islamic laws told a packed Khartoum courtroom Wednesday she is resigning from a U.N. job that grants her immunity so she can challenge the law on women's public dress code.

Lubna Hussein was among 13 women arrested July 3 in a raid by members of the public order police force on a popular Khartoum cafe for wearing trousers, considered indecent by the strict interpretation of Islamic law adopted by Sudan's Islamic regime. All but three of the women were flogged at a police station two days later.

But Ms. Hussein and two other women decided they wanted to go to trial and Ms. Hussein invited human rights workers, Western diplomats and fellow journalists to Wednesday's hearing. Some of her women friends showed up in court wearing trousers in a show of support.

Ms. Hussein works in the media department of the U.N. Mission in Sudan and contributes opinion pieces to a left-leaning Khartoum newspaper. The judge adjourned the hearing until Aug. 4 to give Ms. Hussein time to quit her job.

GUINEA-BISSAU

Sanha wins presidential bid

BISSAU | Malam Bacai Sanha is the new president of Guinea-Bissau, election officials said Wednesday. It was a rare, peaceful transition of power in the tiny West African nation, which has been wracked by coups, countercoups and a civil war.

Mr. Sanha took 63.39 percent of Sunday's presidential runoff vote, beating opponent Kumba Yala, who took 36.69 percent, the electoral commission announced. They were competing to succeed President Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira, who was assassinated in March.

Mr. Sanha was interim president for a year after a 1998-99 civil war, while Mr. Yala was elected president in 2000, but overthrown in a popular bloodless coup three years later.

Source: Washington Times, July 30, 2009

From wire dispatches and staff reports.

Source: Washington Times

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