Sudan has overturned the death sentence for teenager Noura Hussein who killed her husband after he raped her. The 19-year-old has instead been given a five-year jail term for killing her 35-year-old husband.
The case sparked international outrage and several petitions worldwide had called for her sentence to be dropped after the teenager’s story put a spotlight on forced marriage and marital rape in Sudan, where the legal age to enter into marriage is 10 and marital rape is not a crime.
Noura’s family had forced her to get married at 15, but allowed her to finish school. Three years later, after a public marriage ceremony, her husband tried to consummate the marriage.
After refusing to have sex with him on their “honeymoon,” she says he raped her as members of his family held her down. A day later her husband tried to rape her again, and she stabbed him to death. When she went to her parents for support, they turned her over to the police.
