Forty thousand Sudanese women are subject to police whippings for moral transgressions, a figure that came to light after a video was circulated on the Internet, which showed the public thrashing of a Khartoum woman.

Khartoum, 16 Dec. (AKI) - Forty thousand women in Sudan are subject to police whippings for moral transgressions each year, a figure that came to light after a video was circulated on the Internet which showed the public thrashing of a Khartoum woman.

Sudanese feminist and political figure Mariam al-Sadiq al-Madi brought the issue to the attention of authorities, the Sudanese daily al-Sharq al-Awsat reported.

The drama of the physical punishments against women in Sudan is much more serious than previously believed," al-Madi said. She said that each year around 600,000 lashes are dealt to women in Sudan.

"The situation was worsened by a 1991 law that increased violence against them," she added.

The so-called 'law 152' allows for women to be whipped for an array of 'moral' crimes including wearing trousers as in the case of a journalist, Lubna Ahmad Hussein, who was found guilty of this 'crime' last year.

According to lawyer Nabil Adib, "a vast array of crimes allows for whippings," she said, citing the excessive use of alcohol and gambling to washing one's car in an incorrect location as crimes punishable by flogging.