Sudanese Journalist Jailed after Refusing to Pay Fine for Wearing Trousers
TIMES ONLINE: A Sudanese woman put on trial for wearing trousers was spared the lash today but still landed in jail after refusing to pay the £130 fine imposed for indecency.

Lubna Hussein, a 34-year-old widow whose trial exposed Sudan’s draconian Islamic laws, was taken to prison in the same trousers she wore when she was arrested with 12 other women at a Khartoum restaurant in July.

“I will not pay a penny, I’d rather go to prison” she declared after hearing the verdict. She was then taken to a women’s jail in Omdurman, across the Nile from Khartoum, the capital, to serve a one month-sentence for refusing to pay the fine.

Aware of worldwide interest in the case, the judge had tried to be lenient. His punishment fell far short of the maximum penalty under the notorious Article 152 of Sudan’s penal code which prescribes 40 lashes and an unlimited fine for women dressed in an indecent or obscene manner in public.

Ten of the other women arrested with her had already pleaded guilty to the charge of indecency and been flogged.

However, unlike thousands of other women arrested in similar circumstance every year, Ms Hussein, a journalist who worked for the United Nations, refused to accept her summary punishment.

She called a lawyer, and even as the court tried to close this embarrassing chapter today by slapping on a fine, she vowed to fight on.

“Lubna has bravely sacrificed her freedom to free other women from the oppression of the law,” said Ahmed Elzobier, one of Ms Hussein’s supporters.

“She is not guilty, but the police the court and the government are the guilty ones.”

“The campaign will continue,” Mr Elzobier added. “Although Lubna is going to prison, the rest of her supporters will keep challenging these laws.” >>> Tristan McConnell | Monday, September 07, 2009

Jailed Iran Reformists 'Tortured to Confess Foreign Plot'
THE GUARDIAN: Amnesty reports apparent attempt to implicate defeated presidential candidate in conspiracy to overthrow regime

Jailed Iranian reformists are believed to have been tortured in an attempt to force them into TV "confessions" of a foreign-led plot against the Islamic regime.

According to Iranian websites, the "confessions" are aimed at implicating Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, the defeated reformist candidates in this month's presidential poll, in an alleged conspiracy.

Mostafa Tajzadeh, Abdollah Ramezanzadeh and Mohsen Aminzadeh, all Mousavi supporters, are reported to have undergone "intensive interrogation" sessions in Tehran's notorious Evin prison since being arrested in a mass round-up of opposition figures following Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election.

The three, who all served in the government of the former reformist president, Mohammad Khatami, are among several hundred activists, academics, journalists and students detained in a crackdown coinciding with the brutal suppression of street protesters who believe the election was stolen.

Fellow prisoners are reported to have heard screams of pain from Tajzadeh, a former deputy interior minister, and Ramezanzadeh, who was Khatami's government spokesman, during interrogations at Evin's section 209, which is reserved for political prisoners and run by the hardline intelligence ministry. >>> Robert Tait | Friday, June 26, 2009

British Engineer's Daughter Jailed in United Arab Emirates for Having Sex with Her Boss
Jailed: Roxanne Hillier was arrested in the dive shop where she worked after police broke down the door. Photo courtesy of MailOnline
MAIL Online: The daughter of a British engineer has been jailed in the United Arab Emirates after being accused of sleeping with her boss.

Roxanne Hillier is serving a three-month sentence following her arrest at a dive shop where she worked in Sharjah.

The 22-year-old was asleep in a room above the store when police broke down the door and arrested her.

It was claimed she was having an affair with the shop owner, an Emirati, who was downstairs at the time.

Miss Hillier was also accused of being alone in the same room with him.

Although the 22-year-old endured 'humiliating' medical tests to prove no sexual contact had taken place, she was convicted over the alleged affair last week.

The dive shop boss received a six-month sentence even though he also denied the relationship.

Miss Hillier's case is the latest in a string to highlight the United Arab Emirates strict laws on sexual relationships. >>> | Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Muslim Mother Who Sent Her School Age Daughters to Pakistan to Marry Their Cousins Is Jailed for 3 Years
Judge Clement Goldstone QC told the mother, 'You have absolutely no idea of the enormity of what you have done'. Photo courtesy of MailOnline
MAIL Online: A devout Muslim mother of five has become one of the first mums in Britain to be jailed after forcing her two teenage daughters to marry their cousins.

The woman, 39, flew her two girls aged 14 and 15 to Pakistan on the pretext of a family holiday only for them to discover a joint wedding had secretly been arranged for them with two suitors.

The grooms-to-be then tied the knot with the two terrified sisters in a joint ceremony as their mother looked on before the girls were forced to become their new husbands' sex slaves.

During the girls' ordeal their mother from Manchester told her eldest daughter that unless she consumated the marriage, she would 'tie her to the bed, blindfold her and strip her' and watch to make sure she had sex with her new husband.

Two weeks after arriving in Pakistan in June 2007, the mother finalised arrangements for a wedding for the younger of the two daughters to a first cousin.

Two weeks after, both daughters were married in a joint ceremony.

Manchester Crown Court heard the mother was arrested after their daughters told their teachers what happened in February 2008 following their return to the UK.

They were immediately taken into care. >>> By Daily Mail Reporter | Thursday, May 21, 2009

Ridiculous!
COURIERMAIL.COM.AU: A BRITISH mother of two is being held in jail after being found guilty of adultery - for having a cup of tea with a male friend.

Marnie Pearce, 40, had separated from her Egyptian husband Ihab El-Labban when he burst into her Dubai home and found her drinking tea with another man.

Mr El-Labban now has custody of their two children - Ziad, 4, and Laith, 7 - and former classroom assistant Ms Pearce fears she may never see them again because she will be deported as soon as she is released.

Amnesty International says Ms Pearce, who has lived in Dubai for 15 years, is "a prisoner of conscience".

Mr El-Labban made the claim of adultery - which is a crime in the strict Muslim country - during a custody battle over the boys. Marnie Pearce, Mother of Two, Jailed over a Cup of Tea >>> | Friday, March 13, 2009

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Iraqi Jailed for Bush Shoe Attack
BBC: An Iraqi journalist hailed as a hero in the Arab world for throwing his shoes at former US President George W Bush has been jailed for three years.

Muntadar al-Zaidi, the shoe-thrower. Photo courtesy of the BBC
Muntadar al-Zaidi pleaded not guilty as his trial resumed in Baghdad, telling the judge:"My reaction was natural, just like any Iraqi."

He could have been jailed for 15 years for assaulting a foreign leader on an official visit. >>> | Thursday, March 12, 2009

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Labour Peer Lord Ahmed Jailed for 12 Weeks over Text Message Death Crash on M1
MAIL Online: Labour life peer Lord Ahmed was jailed for 12 weeks today for dangerous driving by a judge who heard he sent and received a series of text messages from his car on a motorway.

Sheffield Crown Court was told Lord Ahmed was involved in an accident which left a man dead on the M1 near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, on Christmas Day 2007.

But the judge made clear the text messaging had finished before the accident took place and was not connected to the fatal incident. >>> By Daily Mail Reporter | Wednesday, February 25, 2009

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Nicky Reilly, Muslim Convert, Jailed for 18 Years for Exeter Bomb Attack
TIMES ONLINE: A vulnerable Muslim convert who was persuaded online by shadowy Pakistan-based extremists into trying to carry out a suicide bomb attack on a busy restaurant was jailed for a minimum of 18-years today.

Nicky Reilly, 22, who has Asperger's syndrome and a mental age of 10, was described as the “least cunning” person ever to have been charged with terrorism.

He was directed how to build bombs filled with hundreds of nails, which he attempted to detonate at the Giraffe restaurant in Exeter in May.

But the devices went off prematurely and the only person injured was him. >>> Adam Fresco, Crime Correspondent | Friday, January 30, 2009

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