Court overturns death sentence for Noura Hussein

A Sudanese court has overturned the death sentence for teenager Noura Hussein.

Noura killed her husband after he raped her, in a case that has put a spotlight on forced child marriage and marital rape in the African nation.

Also Read: Teen who killed rapist husband shares her story

Her legal team told CNN on Tuesday that Hussein, now 19, has been given a five-year jail term for killing the 35-year-old man.

The court ordered her family to pay 337,000 Sudanese pounds (Ksh.1.8million) in “blood money” to the man’s family.

Her lawyers say they plan to appeal both the jail term and the payment.

Last week, CNN obtained a first-hand account from the teenager as she awaited retrial in an Omdurman prison cell after appealing her death sentence.

In her account, Hussein said her family had forced her to get married at 15, but allowed her to finish school.

Three years later, after a public wedding, 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.

In her account, Hussein shared her experience of being forced to live with the man, and how she refused to eat or leave her room in her first days with him.