Footballer to be lashed in Sudan after drink drive charge

A Nigerian football star says he has been sentenced to 40 lashes in Sudan after being wrongly convicted of drink driving in Khartoum. Stephen Worgu, who reportedly signed a lucrative contract with Omdurman club Al Merreikh last year, said he was innocent and determined to win an appeal against the sentence. "The matter at the moment is in the appeal court. It will be settled there," he told reporters. "This matter I keep it at the back of my mind because it is not an issue - I wasn't drunk and I didn't drink." It is the latest in a series of high profile cases where Sudan's brand of Islamic law has come under the spotlight. A British teacher was jailed after letting her class name a teddy bear Mohammad in 2007 and a Sudanese journalist was imprisoned in September after being convicted of indecency for wearing trousers. Both women had faced a maximum sentence of flogging. Drinking alcohol is banned under the sharia law enforced in Muslim north Sudan. Worgu, 20, said he was stopped by police driving home late from dinner at a friend's house in August. He said he was taken to a police station and briefly questioned, then later told to attend court. Worgu said the officers told the court they had smelled the home-brewed spirit aragi on his breath, but insisted he had never heard of the drink. The forward said he had initially found it hard to adjust to Sudan and still occasionally felt isolated. However, Worgu said he still did not regret coming to Sudan, and had ambitions to move on to the Premier League or another European league. He said he was a Christian, but understood he had to obey north Sudan's Islamic laws. Worgu said he was fined in Khartoum East court on Tuesday but the flogging was delayed pending his appeal.

» More on this story... «

ITN | November 13, 2009

Tags:. .christian. .teacher. .station. .omdurman. .flogging