Trouser-Wearing Journalist Fined

Lubna al-Hussein has avoided flogging, but she hasn't quite won her case. CNN reports that Sudanese journalist al-Hussein will face a fine instead of 40 lashes after being arrested along with 18 other women at a restaurant by Sudanese authorities in July for wearing indecent clothing, including pants deemed too tight and a blouse deemed too sheer. Al-Hussein, who worked in the media department of the United Nations mission in Sudan, had resigned her position in order to shed her diplomatic immunity and in hopes of having the law declared unconstitutional. She does not intend to pay the fine, which means she'll spend a month in jail, according to her lawyer. During her scheduled trial in early August, demonstrators outside the courtroom in Khartoum carried banners with the messages "No return to the dark ages" and "No to suppressing women."