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This is Noura Hussein, until about four years ago, she was just a normal teenage girl. At 16, her father, without her consent, forcibly married off Noura Hussein. Noura did not accept this decision by her father, and fled her family home in Khartoum. She left her family’s home and travelled over 250KM to her Aunties house in Sennar. She stayed with her aunty for three years, avoiding her father at all costs. Noura always would have wanted to return, but only when it was safe.
Then, Noura’s father managed to contact Noura, he told her that the wedding was cancelled, and that she could return to her childhood home. Upon her arrival home, Noura’s father took Noura, and gave her to her chosen husband’s family. Noura refused to Consummate the marriage.
She defended herself physically for the first four days, before she was ambushed by her chosen husband and his family. Noura, at just the age of 19, was raped by her forced husband. Then, the next day, her forced husband attempted to rape her again, but this time, she stabbed him in self defence, killing him.
In Sudan, the legal marriage age is just 10, meaning that by then your father is legally aloud to marry you off, to a man even five times your age. Marital rape in Sudan is legal as well, meaning that girls as young as ten, who are forced into marriage against their will, are allowed to be raped, and the rapists are protected by the Sudanese government.
This is what happened to Noura Hussein at age 15, but just two weeks ago, at age 19 Noura was sentenced to death by hanging, for protecting her self and her rights as a human on this earth. For protecting herself against the man, she was forced to marry, and that raped her, Noura will be hung, her life cruelly cut short because of sexism in Sudan, and the inhumanity of the Sudanese government.
The case of Noura Hussein has attracted global attention, with Millions of people such as model Naomi Campbell joining the case to free Noura. A petition to save Noura’s life has also attracted over one million signatures, with news networks such as CNN repeatedly broadcasting the case, and the UN has now stepped in, pleading for clemency from the Sudanese government.
The United Nation woman, United Nation’s Population Fund, and the United Nation’s commissioner for refugees, joining forces to free Noura.
The Sudanese government has upped their intensity though too, with the government’s security raiding Noura’s attorneys office, and their scheduled press conferences were shut down. The many human’s rights activists in Sudan fighting for Noura, have been intimidated with reported threats, to stay quiet, or face the consequences. Ultimately, the Government is trying to cover the case up, and remove all of the global attention.
On the Thursday just gone, Hussein’s legal team, left it to the last minute, to appeal her death sentence. Using every bit of evidence, and every piece of the global support, Noura’s attorney has appealed the case, in hope to free Noura. It is now up to the court to decide Noura’s fate, but if the verdict isn’t overturned, there will no doubt be global outcries, and protests, in the name of women’s rights, and in humanity.
You can sign the petition @#JusticeForNoura