Johannesburg - The European Parliament has called on the Sudanese government to commute the death sentence of a woman who killed her husband after he raped her. Noura Hussein, now 19, was forced into the marriage at the age of 16.
The Sudan Tribune reported that the young woman had been held down by the brother of her husband, a relative and a third person to assist in her rape. The next day she stabbed him to death after he tried to force himself on her again.
The woman was sentenced to death in May after her family refused to accept compensation, in a case that has raised international solidarity.
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The European Parliament "deplores and condemns the sentencing to death of Noura Hussein Hammad; calls on the Sudanese authorities to commute the death sentence and fully take into account the fact that Hussein was acting in self-defence against the attempt by a man and his accomplices to rape her", according to a recently adopted resolution.
The EU has been requested to reconsider further cooperation projects in Sudan over the issue of human rights in the country.
Sudan is one of the few remaining countries that have refused to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly.