Amnesty international and United Nations have called on the government of Sudan for clemency on the 19 year-old Noura Hussein who killed her husband as he tried to rape her.
The groups said that her act was in self-defence and that she is a victim of child marriage.
Hussein is facing the verdict of death by hanging after a Sharia court compliant to Islamic Religious Laws found her guilty of premeditated murder.
The court sentenced her to death on Thursday, 11th of May.
On Sunday rights groups- the UN, UN Office of the Special Advisor on Africa and UN Population Fund appealed to the president of Sudan, Omar Hassan al-Bashir and the government for the pardon of Noura Hussein.
‘Speaking as the voices of women and girls of the world, we plead with the government of Sudan to save the life of Hussein’, the statement read.
Reports say Noura Hussein was forced against her will into marriage at the age of 16. She tried to run but was tricked by her parents to return to the husband. After the marriage ceremony, Hussein refused to consummate the marriage. On the sixth day, he raped her while three of her husband’s male relatives held her down. Next day he attempted to do same again and she stabbed him to death in the struggle.
Hussein’s lawyers have until May 25 to appeal the decision and they are preparing to do, reports say.
Since the sentence, the case has attracted both local and international attention with social media users sharing her story particularly on Twitter using the hashtag #justiceforNoura#, and petitions on the change.org platform have seen close to 300,000 signatures so far.
Photo Credit: CNN
