A Facebook campaign, "We all together support the Sudanese journalist Lubna" has so far attracted more than 6,000 supporters. Lubna Hussein is due to go on trial in Khartoum on Monday, charged with wearing "indecent" clothing – namely, trousers. If found guilty she will probably be flogged.

I signed up to the campaign last night and would urge anyone who feels strongly about it to do the same. I have no idea if it will help, but it only takes a minute. 

This has turned into something of a test case. The Sudanese authorities seem embarrassed by the international publicity it has aroused and my hunch is that they are looking for a way out.

Lubna has written about it herself on the Guardian's website and there's also some background from Nesrine Malik.

Still on the subject of social transgression, Huffington Post has an interesting report from Michael Luongo in Iraq: Baghdad's Gay Community: A Tale of Two Cities.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 5 September 2009.