On a slightly more hopeful note, a Sudanese court was forced to move forward with a case charging a woman with the crime of wearing trousers. The defendant insisted that the case move forward, insisting on a trial rather than accepting a grant of immunity offered because she is a UN member.

The article doesn’t cover it, but the defendant was interviewed on BBC radio this morning, and was defiant. She sent out over 500 printed invitations to journalists all over the world to come attend her trial, and she is demanding to know, given that the charges are supposedly based in sharia law, “Where does Prophet Mohammed say this is wrong? What in the Koran does it say this is wrong? What is the basis for this crime in Islam?” She is demanding that the imams put their reasoning where their mouths - and whips - are, and to do it in a public forum. If convicted, she wants her lashing to be done in public and broadcast, and claims she can cite passages in the Koran that require such punishments to be done in public, not behind locked gates.

An interesting challenge from within the system itself. I wish her luck. Ultimately, sharia lunacy can only be defeated from within.

The trial was deferred until next week. The court is hoping to deflect all the public attention by stalling.