fashion police
Fashion police on watch Sudan
Sudanese journalist Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein was fine for wearing trousers in a restaurant and she may faces getting 40 lashes under Islamic law for indecency "who commits an indecent act which violates public morality or wears indecent clothing." it may sound silly and farfetched in North America. This is no joke for thousand of women living under Sudanses regime, 10 women already whipped under this law. the journalist is bow to fight "If I'm sentenced to be whipped, or to anything else, I will appeal. I will see it through to the end, to the constitutional court if necessary," Hussein said. "And if the constitutional court says the law is constitutional, I'm ready to be whipped not 40 but 40,000 times."
she have managed to get international press by sending out 500 invitations to journalist and activist to come and watch the trail, which met with tear-gassed and violent from police. Hussein's trail will continue September 7-2009
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France banning burquini?
To the other extreme, a burquini wearing Muslim woman was ban from it public swimming poor for covering from head to toe a "burquini" full body swimsuit in Emerainville / France.
"The woman was a French convert to Islam, and had bought the swimsuit in Dubai so that she would not have to uncover herself to go swimming" 
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French pool bars Muslim woman for 'burquini' suit
PARIS – A Muslim woman garbed in a head-to-toe swimsuit — dubbed a "burquini" — may have opened a new chapter in France's tussle between religious practices and its stern secular code.
Officials insisted Wednesday they banned the woman's use of the Islam-friendly suit at a local pool because of France's pool hygiene standards — not out of hostility to overtly Muslim garb.
Under the policy, swimmers are not allowed in pools with baggy clothing, including surfer-style shorts. Only figure-hugging suits are permitted.
Nonetheless the woman, a 35-year-old convert to Islam identified only as Carole, complained of religious discrimination after trying to go swimming in a "burquini," a full-body swimsuit, in the town of Emerainville, southeast of Paris.
She was quoted as telling the daily Le Parisien newspaper that she had bought the burquini after deciding "it would allow me the pleasure of bathing without showing too much of myself, as Islam recommends."
"For me this is nothing but segregation," she said.
The issue of religious attire is a hot topic in France, where head-to-toe burqas or other full-body coverings worn by some Muslim fundamentalists are in official disfavor.
France is home to western Europe's largest Muslim population, estimated at 5 million, and Islam is the nation's second religion after Roman Catholicism.
A 2004 law banning the wearing of Muslim head scarves at public schools sparked fierce debate. That legislation also banned Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses in public classrooms.
French lawmakers recently revived the issue of Muslim dress with a proposal that the burqa and other voluminous Muslim attire be banned.
President Nicolas Sarkozy, a conservative, backs the move, saying such garb makes women prisoners.
The "burquini" covers the arms to the wrists and the legs to the ankle and has a hood to cover neck and hair.
An official in charge of swimming pools for the Emerainville region, Daniel Guillaume, said the refusal to allow the local woman to swim in her "burquini" had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with public health standards.
"These clothes are used in public, so they can contain molecules, viruses, et cetera, which will go in the water and could be transmitted to other bathers," Guillaume said in a telephone interview.
"We reminded this woman that one should not bathe all dressed, just as we would tell someone who is a nudist not to bathe all naked," he said.
Guillaume said France's public health standards require all pool-goers to don swimsuits for women and tight, swimming briefs for men — and caps to cover their hair. Bathers also must shower before entering the water.
Guillaume said Carole had tried to file a complaint at a local police station, but her request was turned down as groundless.
Carole told the daily Le Parisien she would protest with the help of anti-discrimination groups.
Emerainville Mayor Alan Kelyor said he could not understand why the woman would want to swim in head-to-toe clothes.
"We are going back in civilization," he said by telephone. Women have fought for decades for equal rights with men, he said. "Now we are putting them back in burqas and veils."
The suits have a clear market.
Women "jump on the occasion so they can swim with their families. Otherwise, they end up staying on the beach and watching," said Leila Mouhoubia, who runs an online site from France that specializes in the sale of Islamic swimsuits. Sales, she said, are strong.
"I think it's forbidden (in France) because it presents an image of the Muslim woman (and) they have prejudices against Muslims," she said by telephone. "They want women to be undressed."
Mouloud Aounit, head of the anti-racism group known as MRAP, said the decision to ban Carole from the pool appeared fair, since pool authorities were observing regulations. But Aounit lamented that the incident was likely to fuel religious tensions.
"The rules must be the same for everybody, regardless of the color of their skin or their religion," Aounit said. "The concern I have is that this case will again lead to stigmatization of the Muslim population in France."
The all-body suits, worn regularly by some women in Muslim countries, are growing popular in the West. They can be seen on female Muslim lifeguards on Australian beaches, in the United States and various European countries, from the Netherlands to Sweden — which OKed them after two women won discrimination cases last year.
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AFP - The trial of a Sudanese woman journalist who faces 40 lashes for wearing trousers was adjourned on Tuesday as police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of demonstrators outside the Khartoum court.
The judge decided to delay the trial to September to determine whether Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, who also works with the United Nations, has legal immunity, defence lawyer Jalal al-Sayyid said.
Hussein, who is in her 30s, has been charged with public indecency after she was arrested last month along with 12 other women who were wearing trousers at a Khartoum restaurant.
Hussein has said that she wants to be tried, in defiance of a law that decrees whipping for wearers of 'indecent' clothes, and told a hearing last week that she wished to waive her UN immunity.
But in an apparent disagreement within her defence team, a lawyer argued that she had immunity and asked the judge to ignore Hussein's wishes, Sayyid said.
The judge will defer the issue to the Sudanese foreign ministry ahead of her next court date on September 7, he said.
Police dispersed hundreds of women and activists from Sudanese opposition political parties who demonstrated in support of Hussein outside the court house after they tried blocking a road, an AFP correspondent reported.
On emerging from the court, which was closed to reporters, Hussein again insisted she wanted to be tried and said she had resigned from her job in the UN's media office in Sudan.
"The court should not have delayed the trial," she told journalists.
Ten women have already been whipped for the same offence -- including Christians -- and Hussein has said she will fight a guilty verdict and the law itself.
"I'm ready for anything to happen. I'm absolutely not afraid of the verdict," she told AFP in an interview on Monday.
"If I'm sentenced to be whipped, or to anything else, I will appeal. I will see it through to the end, to the constitutional court if necessary.
"And if the constitutional court says the law is constitutional, I'm ready to be whipped not 40 but 40,000 times," said Hussein, who also works for the left-wing Al-Sahafa newspaper.
Hussein said she wants to fight to get rid of the law, saying it "is both against the constitution and sharia (Islamic law)."
"If some people refer to the sharia to justify flagellating women because of what they wear, then let them show me which Koranic verses or hadith (sayings of the Prophet Mohammed) say so. I haven't found them," she said.
Police have also cracked down on another woman journalist, Amal Habbani, who published an article in Ajrass al-Horreya newspaper (Bells of Freedom) entitled: "Lubna, a case of subduing a woman's body."
Unlike many other Arab countries, particularly in the Gulf, women have a prominent place in Sudanese public life. Nevertheless, human rights organisations say some of the country's laws discriminate against
The judge decided to delay the trial to September to determine whether Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, who also works with the United Nations, has legal immunity, defence lawyer Jalal al-Sayyid said.
Hussein, who is in her 30s, has been charged with public indecency after she was arrested last month along with 12 other women who were wearing trousers at a Khartoum restaurant.
Hussein has said that she wants to be tried, in defiance of a law that decrees whipping for wearers of 'indecent' clothes, and told a hearing last week that she wished to waive her UN immunity.
But in an apparent disagreement within her defence team, a lawyer argued that she had immunity and asked the judge to ignore Hussein's wishes, Sayyid said.
The judge will defer the issue to the Sudanese foreign ministry ahead of her next court date on September 7, he said.
Police dispersed hundreds of women and activists from Sudanese opposition political parties who demonstrated in support of Hussein outside the court house after they tried blocking a road, an AFP correspondent reported.
On emerging from the court, which was closed to reporters, Hussein again insisted she wanted to be tried and said she had resigned from her job in the UN's media office in Sudan.
"The court should not have delayed the trial," she told journalists.
Ten women have already been whipped for the same offence -- including Christians -- and Hussein has said she will fight a guilty verdict and the law itself.
"I'm ready for anything to happen. I'm absolutely not afraid of the verdict," she told AFP in an interview on Monday.
"If I'm sentenced to be whipped, or to anything else, I will appeal. I will see it through to the end, to the constitutional court if necessary.
"And if the constitutional court says the law is constitutional, I'm ready to be whipped not 40 but 40,000 times," said Hussein, who also works for the left-wing Al-Sahafa newspaper.
Hussein said she wants to fight to get rid of the law, saying it "is both against the constitution and sharia (Islamic law)."
"If some people refer to the sharia to justify flagellating women because of what they wear, then let them show me which Koranic verses or hadith (sayings of the Prophet Mohammed) say so. I haven't found them," she said.
Police have also cracked down on another woman journalist, Amal Habbani, who published an article in Ajrass al-Horreya newspaper (Bells of Freedom) entitled: "Lubna, a case of subduing a woman's body."
Unlike many other Arab countries, particularly in the Gulf, women have a prominent place in Sudanese public life. Nevertheless, human rights organisations say some of the country's laws discriminate against
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Fashion police on watch Sudan / France banning burquini?
Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein
