A Sudanese teenager was sentenced to death by a court for stabbing her husband to death as he raped her.
Noura Hussein, 19, was forced by her parents to marry her cousin when she was only 16. She was forced to sign the marriage contract in 2014. She then escaped to a relative’s house in eastern Sudan before the wedding ceremony was completed.
She was away for three years, but her father found her and tricked her into returning to her husband. Hussein refused to have cex with her husband after she was returned to him. After six days of refusal, her husband recruited some of his cousins to help him hold her down so he could rape her.
He succeeded the first time, but the second time he attempted to rape her again, she stabbed him to death before returning to her family, who then handed her over to police.
On Thursday, May 10, 2018, a judge confirmed the death penalty for Hussein after her husband’s family rejected financial compensation and insisted on retaliation. As soon as the judge sentenced Hussein to death, her husband’s family clapped and cheered in joy.
But Hussein’s supporters at the courtroom and human rights activists were distressed by the news. Hussein’s legal team has 15 days to appeal the death sentence.
“She’s still in complete shock after her sentencing today,” Dr. Adil Mohamed Al-Imam, one of Hussein’s lawyers, told CNN.
According to a human rights activist who attended the hearing, large crowds of supporters for Hussein gathered outside the court to protest the verdict, but police violently dispersed them.
“People protested carrying signs and posters to show their disapproval of the verdict,” Rasha Abualayla told Aljazeera. “But the police snatched the posters out of their hands and even started beating some of them.”
Rights activists have campaigned on behalf of Hussein on social media and a #JusticeForNoura hashtag has trended on Twitter.