As World Condemns Sudan Flogging, Judiciary Opens Investigation

Beyond the Veil| Sudan’s judiciary has launched an investigation into the public flogging that has kept Anne awake for days now.

Initially, reports the Guardian, Sudan’s deputy police chief, Adel Al-Agib, downplayed the incident, saying that the footage was circulated to damage Sudan’s image.

“The investigation was started immediately after the images of the young woman, being punished under Articles 154 and 155 of the 1991 Sudanese penal code, appeared on the internet,” the judiciary said in a statement.

Anne was contacted immediately about the video, because of her long involvement in the Lubna Hussein flogging case. YouTube initially took the video down over complaints from pro-lashing Sudanese.

Anne’s friends sent her the video files and she got it installed on Vimeo, where it now resides. See Saturday’s Laughing Brutality in Woman’s Flogging Video Chills Sudan.

You Tube is also leaving the video up, despite complaints from the pro-lashers.

The policeman can be heard telling the woman that her punishment is 53 lashes, and that she will be jailed for two years if she does not submit to the flogging.

The video is probably the most vivid example of a flogging we have ever seen, and we’ve watched many in the last 18 months.

This article, written in July 2009 just after Anne was first contacted about Lubna Hussein, has moved into our Top 15 Reads. Anne has always put the Lubna Hussein flogging case in the larger issue of the religious and political oppression of women in most countries in the world.

With legislators in Utah passing a bill this year to make miscarriage a felony (it was vetoed by the governor) and the Vatican launching an inquiry into American nuns, Anne of Carversville believes that patriarchal forces are mounting to control women’s bodies around the world. 

In Sudan, flogging is also a form of political power of the regime of Omar al-Bashir, who has been accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court. Mr. al-Bashir has told the ICC that it can ‘eat’ his arrest warrant.

A Somewhat Decadent but Fundamentally Good Group of Lubna Ahmed Hussein Lovers Hear Her Calm, Steady Voice “I Want to Change This Law”