A teenage girl in Sudan who killed a man who tried raping her has been sentenced to death.
The 19-year-old girl Noura Hussein was forced by her father at the age of 16 to marry the deceased who happens to be her cousin.
She had refused to accept the union and reportedly sought refuge with a relative for three years.
Reuters reported that upon her return to her family home on the outskirts of the capital Khartoum last month, preparations were still ongoing for her wedding ceremony.
Hussein had refused to have sex with her husband after the wedding ceremony, but was raped by her husband while three of his male relatives held her down. When Hussein’s husband tried raping her the next day she stabbed him, killing him in the process.
But a Sudanese Sharia court, using Islamic religious law convicted the teenager and found her guilty of premeditated murder. She is to be hanged to death as a punishment, a verdict her lawyers could appeal within the next 15 days.
Rights groups are pushing for her pardon with an activist from the Afrika Youth Movement, Badr Eldin Salah telling Reuters that “Noura’s lawyers say they plan to appeal against the decision, but we also need strong international support from organisations such as the African Union, the United Nations and the European Union to support her.”
Sudanese law permits that girls are married off when they reach puberty stages. The law also allows for a 10-year-old girl to be married by their guardian with the permission of a judge.
Source: Africafeeds.com
