Nine women to be flogged for taking part in Sudan protests

Nine women were sentenced by an emergency court on Saturday to flogging and a month in jail for participating in protests against President Omar al-Bashir's rule.

The women were arrested on Thursday for participating in an unauthorised demonstration in Burri, a neighbourhood of Khartoum which has become a regular site of protests against the regime.

They were sentenced to 20 lashes and a month in jail, the Democratic Alliance of Lawyers said.

Unauthorised demonstrations were banned by Bashir in late February as the leader increased his crackdown on dissent under a state of emergency.

The ruling by the Khartoum emergency court came despite Bashir on Friday ordering the release of all women detainees held during the nationwide protests which began in mid-December.

The Sudanese regime has faced condemnation from activists and human rights groups for the treatment of peaceful protesters.

Female detainees on Friday undertook a hunger strike to commemorate International Women's Day as protesters on the streets of the capital Khartoum and its twin city Omdurman expressed solidarity with detainees.

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The Sudanese authorities have set up special emergency courts to prosecute violations of the nationwide state of emergency imposed by Bashir on February 22 in an attempt to end the widespread demonstrations.

More than 800 people have been tried in the emergency courts so far, the Democratic Alliance of Lawyers said. The Democratic Alliance of Lawyers is part of the Sudanese Professionals Association, one of the key organisers of protests across the country.

An appeal against the court's verdict will be filed on Sunday, the women’s defence lawyer Enaam Atieg told AFP.

The women's flogging has yet to be carried out.

"Following pressure from their lawyers the court has still not implemented the floggings," the Democratic Lawyers Alliance said in a statement on Saturday.

Activists and human rights groups have regularly complained about Sudan's selective application of Islamic sharia law.

Hundreds of women are sentenced to flogging every year under a controversial public order law which criminalises wearing "obscene clothes", such as trousers and knee-length skirts, and "indecent" behaviour in public.

Protests erupted in mid-December when a government decision to cut surpluses led to tripled bread prices, exacerbating the financial situation of many in a country which has witnessed a severe economic decline in recent years.

The "bread protests" quickly spread across the country and took on a broader political message - calling on Bashir, who took power in a 1989 military coup, to step down.

Sudanese officials claim 30 people have died in protest-related violence, but a Human Rights Watch says at least 51 have been killed during the brutal crackdown. Activists say some of those killed died under torture while being detained by Sudan’s security services.