Amira Osman Hamed faces a possible whipping if convicted of violating Sudan's laws governing morality, which took effect after the 1989 Islamist-backed coup by President Omar al-Bashir
Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to
ArabizeDarfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it.
The defence asked in September that the charge be withdrawn but the prosecution is still weighing how to proceed, Hamed and one of her lawyers told AFP after Monday's hearing in Jebel Aulia, just outside Khartoum.
The court is waiting for the prosecutor to either send the file back to court for additional hearings, or to quash the case, Hamed said.
No new date has been set for a further hearing, but one of her lawyers, Kamal Omar, told AFP that "this does not mean the case is finished".
Hamed said she thought that her case would not be quashed immediately.
"I think they will keep it (active) for a while," she said. "If they want to use it any time they will. I'm not free."
Under Sudanese law all women are supposed to cover their hair with a "hijab" but Hamed refuses, saying authorities "want us to be like Taliban women."
Her case has attracted international publicity and drawn support from rights activists.
She said she was charged after refusing a policeman's order to cover her head while visiting a government office in Jebel Aulia in late August.