Sudan Investigates Case of Woman Seen Being Flogged on YouTube Clip
ICC Note
Sudan enforces Sharia law which allows for cruel and inhumane punishments such as flogging and cutting of hands. This video shows the brutality of Sudanese 'justice' system. The introduction of Sharia law is what forced the Christians and animists in south Sudan to oppose the government of Sudan.
12/13/2010 Sudan (The Gurdian)-Sudan's judiciary has launched an investigation into the public flogging of a woman after footage of her being whipped by laughing policemen was posted to the internet.
The YouTube video shows an unidentified woman in a long black dress and a headscarf being ordered to sit down in a parking lot (Warning: Video contains graphic images of violence some may find disturbing).
A uniformed policeman proceeds to whip her all over her body as she screams in pain. A second officer laughs when he realises he is being filmed, before joining in the punishment, which lasts a minute and a half.
Flogging is relatively common is northern Sudan, where sharia law is often enforced arbitrarily. But the cruel, nonchalant behaviour of the security forces amid the distress of the victim in this case caused a stir in the country and the diaspora, and even attracted condemnation in some pro-government newspapers.
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These articles allow up to 100 lashes for adultery and running a brothel, in addition to a jail sentence. In this case the woman's alleged crime is not known, although comments on social media sites suggest it could have been the wearing of trousers, which has in the past been judged to violate a law governing "indecent or immoral dress".
In the subtitles on the clip, a policeman can be heard telling the women that her punishment is 53 lashes, and that she will be jailed for two years if she does not submit to the flogging. Another voice says the woman should comply because "we want to go [home]".
During her ordeal, which was witnessed by numerous passers-by, the victim shouts repeatedly for her mother and grabs one the whips of one of the policeman in a vain attempt to stop the beating. The case follows the well-publicised trial last year of Lubna Hussein, a UN worker who was arrested with a dozen other women for wearing trousers at a party in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.
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