A recent YouTube video has gained international recognition as it featured what seems to be a middle-aged woman being whipped by police officials in northern Sudan. The woman was apparently being punished for violating the country’s indecency laws, which include things that do not comply with proper Islamic attire. These laws can make a crime out of the pettiest of things, such as women wearing pants in public. The woman in the video is seen repeatedly begging for mercy, crying for her mother and even attempting to stop the policeman from inflicting anymore pain on her. Meanwhile, onlooking men, both in uniform and in casual attire, are seen laughing, threatening the defenseless woman into submitting to her punishment quietly, or just watching in silence without interfering.

What may seem like an abnormal and barbaric event is actually the norm in Islamic countries that enforce strict Sharia law. Under Article 152 of the 1991 Sudanese penal code, anybody seen wearing an “obscene outfit or contrary to public morals or causing an annoyance to public feelings” will be flogged with no more than 40 lashes, although the woman in the video was said to have been given at least 50 lashes.

In July 2009, Sudanese journalist Lubna Ahmed Al-Hussain was arrested along with 12 other women, including minors, for wearing pants at a private wedding in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum. Hussain challenged the law, and ironically, wore pants to her hearing to make a statement that she had done nothing wrong. Although she was found guilty, jailed for a short period of time and eventually fined the equivalent of about $200 rather than being flogged, she brought attention to a serious issue that has gone ignored for enough time. The woman in the YouTube video, whose identity is unknown, did not have a say in her fate.

At AHS, where students are allowed to appropriately express themselves through their clothing, not many people stop and appreciate how fortunate they are for living in a country where basic human rights are never easily wrenched from their grasp.

Still, students do hold an opinion on this recent issue involving the unidentified woman in Sudan. “It destroys the image of Islam and is very disappointing for me to see as a person who believes in women’s rights,” junior Ahmad Haj-Assad said. Although it is mainly women who are targeted in these acts of injustice and pure cruelty, occasionally men will also be arrested under the same terms.

In June 2010, seven men were arrested and fined the equivalent of $80 for wearing makeup during an amateur fashion show called “Sudanese Next Top Model.” The woman who applied the make up on these men was fined as well. Apparently, the law has been skewed by officials to include public as well as private events, including things such as wearing pants or applying makeup, and whipping people without trial and posting videos of their suffering on YouTube.

It makes one wonder: what next? Flogging for wearing shirts with short sleeves? Stoning for socializing with the opposite sex? If nothing is done to stop these acts of injustice from going on (which are by no means justified under the Islamic teachings), the future of citizens in countries like Sudan will look grim indeed.

To see the whole video of the woman being brutally whipped, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6uPWjl06hA. Viewer discretion is advised.