The Flogging In Sudan, by Jamil Shawwa

The news coming out of Sudan is usually not pleasant and gets worse as time goes by. The latest episode was the flogging of a Sudanese Female Journalist for what Sudan described as a dress that contradicts the Islamic dress requirements, what a shame. Sudan government's use of this great religion as other groups and terrorists to torture their people is intolerable. Islam- bear in mind I am not a scholar- has nothing to do with the implementation of certain punishments that might exist in its punishment codes for some crimes. The Sudanese government with all it's internal problems; with it's southern people and northern rebels, does not have any legitimacy among it's people except in using Islam in the worst Hippocratic way to provide some legitimacy. The Sudanese are not dumb and they are not naive but for some unexplainable reason- to me at least- are still go along with the criminally wanted president El Bashir who promoted himself to Field Marshal El Bashir; what a shame, again. Sudan has established political families and in general its people are among the most educated in the Arab world but for the past Twenty years, since El Bashir came to power through a military coup against the democratic elected government of El-Sadiq El-Mahdi, the son of one of Sudan most prominent political and religious families, and Sudan economy, morals and status among developing nations has reach Rock bottom. Sudan once described as the basket of Africa in reference to it's agricultural potential to feed the whole continent is now nothing but separate islands of political entities with a president who is wanted to appear before the International Criminal Court to answer some genocide questions; Shame on him and I must say on some of the Sudanese people who just do not the least to say talk about these atrocities.