Death sentence for raped woman world's worst ruling

The death sentence for a 19-year-old Sudanese female who murdered her husband after he raped her has been listed as the world's worst court ruling for women's rights this year. As previously reported in Legalbrief Today, Noura Hussein was sentenced to death in May after a Sharia court found her guilty of premeditated murder for stabbing her husband whom she was forced to marry. A report on the allAfrica site notes that Hussein said her husband and three of his male relatives raped her six days after their wedding ceremony because she refused to have sex with him. Marital rape is not a crime in the predominantly Muslim African nation. ‘This decision sends a very dangerous message to society, and specifically to women who suffer sexual violence,’ said Blakeley Decktor, a lawyer at women's rights organisation Women's Link, which gives out the awards. He said the ruling clearly demonstrated a failure of understanding the context where the victim defended herself.