Jenice Armstrong: She's in Sudan court for wearing pants

THE FOLLOWING is a story of a modern-day heroine, a Sudanese woman who, in the face of oppression, refuses to back down.

And she may wind up with 40 lashes for her defiance. As of this writing, Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein's fate is uncertain. Her trial is scheduled to start today. Her crime?

Wearing pants.

Baggy, loose-fitting ones at that.

But in this conflict-ridden Islamic nation, the offending garments were enough to get her slapped with an indecency charge. And because she has decided to fight back, Hussein faces the prospect of not only being fined, but also being lashed 40 times.

But she says she'd rather be lashed 40,000 times than give in.

It all started on July 3, when Hussein, who until recently worked in the media department of the United Nations in Sudan, was dining at a restaurant in Khartoum. Authorities walked in and ordered her group to submit to an impromptu clothing inspection. Ten of the women with Hussein that night who were dressed as she was were found guilty of violating the country's decency laws and were beaten at a police station. Each was lashed 10 times and fined.

But Hussein and two other women refused to accept their punishment, opting instead for a trial. When Hussein showed up at her first hearing, she had the audacity to wear the exact same outfit that had gotten her into trouble - pants, a blouse and a hijab (a head cover).

Female supporters, who'd been alerted by the e-mail blasts that she'd sent out, showed up at the court proceeding also dressed in pants, giving new meaning to the phrase "sisterhood of the traveling pants." And word is that Hussein plans to defiantly recycle that same green outfit for today's court proceedings.

"Tens of thousands of women and girls have been whipped for their clothes these last 20 years. It's not rare in Sudan," Hussein said, according to Agence France Presse. "It's just that none of them would dare complain, because who would believe that they were whipped just for wearing trousers? They're afraid of scandal, of raising doubts about their morals."

The Sudan is a long way away. It would be easy enough to dismiss Hussein's saga. Although we may not be mired in civil war as is Sudan, the United States has plenty of problems of its own.

But Hussein's saga is being told and retold because it strikes a universal chord, particularly with women. At its core, her fight is about personal freedom - her right as a human being to live on her own terms and not be limited by someone else's belief system or morality. Too often, that's what these conflicts come down to.

They're struggles that have been fought for years by feminists, civil-rights activists and others who've felt compelled to gather picket signs against whatever status quo it was they were rebelling against. In Hussein's case, it's religious extremists.

In the case of 1960s-era civil- rights activists, it was Jim Crow. Were she still alive, I'm sure civil-rights icon Rosa Parks would give Hussein a transatlantic thumbs-up.

Who knows? Maybe Parks would have even shown up at Hussein's trial wearing pants.

Send e-mail to heyjen@phillynews.com. My blog: http://go.philly.com/heyjen.