Sudanese authorities arrested about 30 women who tried to hold a protest in the capital Khartoum on Tuesday against the brutal police whipping of a young woman as seen in a video posted on YouTube.

 The arrests are said to have taken place in downtown Khartoum near the justice ministry where the demonstrators wanted to deliver a protest letter.

The  video posted  shows men in powder-blue uniforms as worn by Sudanese police whipping a woman all over her body as she kneels, crying and moaning.

"An investigation was launched into the lashing of a young woman as seen on a website, and the implementation of sanctions that go against what is outlined in the criminal code," the judiciary said in a statement.

Sharia
"This woman was punished under sharia, Islamic law, but there was a mistake in the way the punishment was carried out," Khartoum state Governor Abder Rahman al-Khidir of the ruling National Congress Party said.

"The authorities are looking into it," he told Sudan's private television channel Blue Nile. "We will not allow anyone to exploit this for political ends," he warned.

Humiliation
Sections of Sudan's 1991 Criminal Code, imposed two years after President Omar al-Bashir came to power in a military-backed coup, mandate lashings for "indecent" behaviour, adultery or running a brothel.

The Sudan Women's Association had requested over the weekend that the authorities investigate the case, calling it an "insult" to the Sudanese people and a "humiliation" for its women.

Pants
Last year Lubna Hussein, a journalist-turned activist, went to court to challenge a ruling that women wearing trousers were being "indecent," a charge under which thousands of people were flogged. Mrs Hussein herself was sentenced to a fine of 200 Sudanese pounds (50 euro) for wearing pants, but she was not whipped.