Sudanese court on Tuesday overturned a death sentence on a teenager and jailed her for five years instead, the girl’s lawyer said.
Noura Hussein, 19, killed her husband whom she alleged had tried to rape her.
Hussein, who said that her father made her to marry the man, who was also her cousin, was sentenced to death by hanging in May by an Islamic court for the murder.
Rights campaigners had appealed to President Omar al-Bashir to pardon Hussein, saying she was forced into marriage.
The campaigners said that Hussein acted in self-defence.
Consequently, the appeals court quashed the death sentence, as well as the five-year jail term.
The court then fined her 375 Sudanese pounds (about 20 dollars), the lawyer, Al-Fateh Hussein, told the Media but did not give further details.
Hussein said she was betrothed at the age of 16 but refused to accept the union and sought refuge with a relative for three years.
She returned to her family home in Khartoum in April this year after her father said the marriage was cancelled.
But she found out that she was deceived as preparations for the wedding were underway.
She said that she refused to have sex with her husband after the wedding, but on the sixth day, he raped her as three of his male relatives held her down to restrain her.
The following day, he attempted to rape her again and as she struggled to stop him, she stabbed him, killing him.
The Islamic court found her guilty in May of premeditated murder.
Sudan is ranked 165 out of 188 countries on the UN’s Gender Inequality Index.
The index measures how women fare compared to men when it comes to access to health, education, political participation and employment opportunities. (Reuters/NAN)
