Lubna's second leg match

By\ Makki Al-Maghrabi
In what is seen as a second leg match, some of Sudanese Islamists have criticized the government for giving UN employees immunity to escape prosecution in Sudanese courts. They said all people; especially foreigners must respect Islamic laws in north Sudan.
This happened as reaction of what is called now in western media (trousers trial).
Lubna Hussein, a Sudanese columnist faces 40 lashes if she is convicted of being inappropriately dressed in public for wearing trousers. She was arrested nearly a month ago, under Article 152 of Sudan’s criminal law, which forbids “indecent clothing in public”
The judge has adjourned Lubna’s trial until September to reassess whether she should indeed benefit from diplomatic immunity, despite having quit her job in the UN in Sudan.
"If western media do not respect Islam, they must respect the peace agreement between North and South", Hafeed Abd Allah, Imam of a mosque in Khartoum said. "South Sudan will have referendum in 2011 and North Sudan has the right of Islamic legislation". Hafeed warned secular Sudanese politicians for their stance against Islamic laws describing their steps in supporting Lubna as a breach of the Nivasha agreement. "We are not obliged to respect a torn agreement if the other part wants to cheat in the game"
Lubna's trial raised red signs in the relation between extremists and new modernized Islamic groups, analysts said. "Much of the doctrinal fervor went out of the Islamist revolution when its main ideologue, Hassan al-Turabi, was kicked out of the government in 2000. Since then, there has been a gradual relaxation of the old curfews, dress codes and other social prohibitions", The Observer reported. "Since news of the case broke, Lubna has been celebrated in the western press. She is bemused by the thought of being seen as a heroine, and even more by the idea - suggested by some British newspapers - that she was targeted because she is a Christian". From her part, Lubna criticized in her statements western media, " "I am a Muslim, and a good Muslim," she said." The west really doesn't understand Islam! As Muslims we know that, if the police catch girls and arrest and flog them, we know this is not Islam. But when the government of Bashir does that, the west says: 'Oh, that is Islam.' It presents a bad face of Islam". She explained in an interview in Guardian: "Islam does not say whether a woman can wear trousers or not." "It is not about religion, it is about men treating women badly". She said that her plan is to continue her struggle inside Sudan ,"I will take my case to the upper court, even to the constitutional court," she concluded.
Lubna's statements described by secularists as an unnecessary flexibility against the theocratic state in Sudan. Some of them are afraid of loosing this chance to repeal Islamic laws. "Elements of the Sudanese dictatorship are no fools, the court case will be adjourned repeatedly until the International media lose interest in it" an analyst in the Economist said.