Sudanese journalist Lubna Hussein

Meanwhile, in Malaysia, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a former model, is to be caned publicly at the end of this month for violating Islamic law by drinking beer in public. She has already paid a $1,400 fine for drinking alcohol in a hotel bar two years ago while visiting Malaysia. The caning -- six strokes with a rattan cane -- was to have taken place on Aug. 24, but Malaysian authorities postponed the lashing until the end of Ramadan. Given the international outcry in both cases, it seems as if the Sudanese and Malaysian courts are adopting the tried-but-true strategy of avoidance and delay, in the hopes that lessening a sentence or simply putting off punishment will mute the outrage.

In Hussein's case, the opposite may be true: if Hussein does go to jail and continues her bold campaign against the court's interpretation of Sharia law, it may further incite rights activists throughout the country. At the conclusion of the trial on Monday, throngs of Sudanese women clad in trousers arrived to protest, sparking confrontations with a group of Islamic men clad in traditional dress chanting, "God is great!" Riot police broke up the confrontation and carted away at least 40 women.

In Malaysia, Kartika's case highlights the sticky relationship between the dual-track justice system, in which both civil and religious courts hear cases. Sharia, or religious law, apparently trumps civil law --- or at least it will in Kartika's case, since no civil court has ever before sentenced a woman to caning for consuming alcohol.

As a lady who loves my Levis and Coronas in equal measure – even, occasionally, at the same time! – I find the very notion of punitive measures for sartorial and alcoholic choices if not absurd then, uh, alien. But the flip side of this absurdity is very real and very humiliating punishment -- one that sets a disturbing precedent. In both cases, the verdicts point to restrictive, fundamentalist ideology gaining a toehold in the judicial process -- an alarming trend.

Particularly unnerving is the fact that national governments are sponsoring and sanctioning violence against women. Perhaps the silver lining on these clouds is the courage of Hussein, Kartika and their supporters, willing to engage in a judicial process already impossibly biased against them.