An online campaign is gaining momentum to defend a 19-year-old Sudanese woman sentenced to death for murdering her husband, who she says raped her after she was forced to marry him.
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The story of Noura Hussein received international attention when the details of her case circulated on social media with the hashtags #JusticeforNoura and #SaveNoura, and an online petition on Change.org.
In 2016, Hussein attempted to escape her arranged marriage but was forcibly restrained by her in-laws while her husband raped her to consummate their vows.
"She would not have sex with the man; he recruited some of his cousins and brought them home where they held her down while her husband raped her," Sarah ElHasan, a rights activist supporting Hussein's case, told al-Jazeera.
The following night, when her husband tried to rape her again, Hussein stabbed him with a knife and killed him, her lawyer Ahmed Sebair said.
Hussein's supporters stood behind her in the Omdurman courtroom as the judge condemned her to death by hanging on Thursday after her husband's family refused financial compensation for the killing, demanding instead that she be executed.
I was never sadder and more shaken than when i saw Noura today. She walked in with steady feet and a head held high.
— Randa Elzein (@randaelzein) May 10, 2018
She is a hero, a survivor and a voice that dared refuse oppression in a society created to oppress.#JusticeForNoura
Hussein's lawyers have just under two weeks to appeal the conviction.