Skip to main content

Sudan: Noura Hussein: 'Hoping for a miracle to stop our daughter being hanged'

Sudanese woman
The parents of a Sudanese teenager who was sentenced to death after killing her husband - whom she accuses of raping her - have denied reports that they've disowned her. In an exclusive interview with the BBC, her father also says he never imagined that making her marry her cousin would have such terrible consequences.

Noura Hussein sobbed uncontrollably when she saw her mother earlier this month. It was the 1st time she had been visited by her family, since she was jailed 1 year ago.

Through the tears, the 19-year-old told her mother that she had originally planned to kill herself, after being raped by her husband.

"She hated herself after he raped her," says Noura's mother, Zainab Ahmed.

"She had got a knife ready to take her own life if he touched her again."

But in the heat of the moment - when he did touch her again - she stabbed her husband instead. It was self-defence, her mother insists.

When Noura was sentenced last month an online campaign, #JusticeforNoura, spread across the world.

Supermodel Naomi Campbell and actress Emma Watson were among celebrities who joined activists in condemning the death sentence and demanding that the conviction be overturned.

And when Amnesty International urged supporters to email Sudan's Justice Minister asking him to intervene, the volume of messages forced him to get a new email address.

It was only when her mother visited her in the harsh conditions of the Omdurman Women's Prison that Noura discovered about this tide of support in the outside world.

For now, her own world is defined by the walls of the prison, where all inmates live in 1 large yard.

"There are no roofs so most of the women have to use sheets to keep the sun off them," Justice Africa's Sudan co-ordinator, Hafiz Mohammed, has said.

Noura remains in the shackles that she has been wearing since her arrest.

While she looked healthy, her mother says, her spirit appeared broken.

The 2nd of 8 children, Noura Hussein, grew up in the village of al-Bager, 40km (25 miles) south of Khartoum. It's a dusty place, surrounded by sandy, rocky hillocks, not far from the River Nile.

The bright colours of the fruit and vegetables laid out on patterned cloths on the floor of the local market provide rare bursts of colour piercing the mostly brown and barren landscape.

Zainab Ahmed says her daughter was always a quiet girl, and an intelligent one.

"She had ambitions," Zainab says. "Noura dreamed of studying law at university and eventually becoming a lecturer."

Their extended family had left the conflict-ridden region of Darfur to move to al-Bager when Noura was a child. They didn't have much money, but Noura's father's business - a small hardware shop which sold tools and oil - meant that Noura could enjoy an education. This was what made her happiest.

But in 2015 Noura's 32-year-old cousin, Abdulrahman Mohamed Hammad, proposed to her. She was 16.

Her mother says her daughter didn't initially appear upset by the idea but asked to be allowed to continue her education. She also asked for the marriage to be delayed until her mother, who was pregnant, had given birth.

But family pressure began to mount, notably from her own father, Hussein.

"Many young girls in the area were getting pregnant and having illegitimate children," says Hussein.

Hussein says he didn't want her to suffer a similar fate and end up without a husband.

While she took part in the initial marriage ceremony it became clear that Noura's opposition to the idea was increasing.

She ran away to her aunt in Sinnar, a city 350km away, and remained with her for 2 days. She was persuaded to come back home on the understanding that the marriage would never be completed.

In fact, once she arrived back the ceremony was completed, but she wasn't required to live with her husband.

For the next 2 years she remained at her family home. When Abdulrahman visited, she would tell him outright that she didn't want to be married to him.

However, family elders began to insist that Noura and her husband formalise the relationship and behave like a legally married couple.

In their close community it is the elders who make all key decisions. Honour and family respect are the most important values of the culture.

Her father Hussein says he saw no good reason for his daughter to keep refusing the union. The family had been patient for years.

Under pressure, Noura agreed to move in with Abdulrahman in April 2017.

According to a first-hand account obtained by CNN, Noura says that she resisted her husband's sexual advances for the 1st week they lived together.

She cried. She refused to eat. When Abdulrahman slept she attempted to leave the flat, but it was locked.

On the 9th day, Abdulrahman arrived at their flat with some relatives, who tore at her clothes and held her down while he raped her, according to the CNN report.

The following day Abdulrahman tried again. This time Noura reached for the knife she told her mother she would use to kill herself.

Noura's account says that in the tussle her hand was cut and Abdulrahman bit her shoulder.

It then jumps to Noura running to her parents' home, holding a bloody knife.

Hussein and his wife were terrified when they saw their daughter standing in front of them clutching the murder weapon.

"I killed my husband after he raped me," she told them, holding out the knife.

"I then understood the seriousness of the situation," says Hussein. Knowing Abdulrahman's family, he was in no doubt they would want revenge.

Noura's whole family was now under threat, he says, so he made a decision to take them all to the police station. He did this to protect them, not, as has been reported, to turn her in and abandon her. But Noura was arrested and charged with premeditated murder.

Her family went home to appeal to the elders to make a deal with Abdulrahman's family. They refused, instead insisting that Hussein and Zainab must no longer see Noura if they wanted to protect their other children.

When their house and business premises were set on fire and burned down, Hussein and Ahmed agreed.

However, the intimidation persisted and Hussein and Zainab took their children and fled.

A court in Omdurman, Sudan's second largest city, later found Noura Hussein guilty of premeditated murder, and last month - when her husband's family refused the option of monetary compensation - it officially sentenced her to death by hanging.

Noura's lawyers are appealing against the sentence, and seeking a pardon. The verdict is expected within days.




CNN: Activist fights for Sudanese teen on death row


Hussein says he has not seen his daughter since that night, because of the threat to harm him and his other children if he does.

"I also want to see my daughter and visit her in prison and raise her spirits, but I am unable to do so," he says.

He has talked with her on the phone, though, and says she assured him that she was in good health.

Zainab Ahmed says she is hopeful of a last minute miracle for her daughter. She likes to imagine that family elders will intervene and convince Abdulrahman's family to ask the courts to repeal the death penalty.

Amnesty International thinks this is a vain hope.

"At this stage this seems highly unlikely. Had they done this during the sentencing they could have requested mitigation. At this stage a family would have no say in a judicial decision," says Dr Joan Nyanyuki, Amnesty's director for East Africa.

However international pressure may work, she says.

"When we called for people to email Sudan's Justice Minister demanding Noura's pardon, he had to shut down his email address within two weeks. It had an impact. If people emailed the Sudanese embassies in their respective countries demanding her release, that would make an immense difference."

She adds: "There are hundreds of thousands of Nouras that we haven't heard of, in forced marriages being raped. This fight is also for them."

Noura's parents now live in a village far away from al-Bager.

They say that their marriage is still strong and they are supporting each other and their children through the ordeal. But Noura's fate haunts them.

"No-one wants a miserable life for their daughter," says Hussein.

"I did not expect things to reach this degree.

"We are hoping God will rescue her."

Source: BBC News, Mohamed Osman, June 25, 2018


⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.


Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!



"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Most viewed (Last 7 days)

Cartoons about Capital Punishment

  More cartoons about capital punishment HERE

Hanging of Osaka Arsonist is Japan’s First Execution Under Takaichi Government

As a majority of the international community has abolished capital punishment. Japan and the U.S. are the only two countries in the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations that put people to death. The execution of Takami Sunao—an arsonist whose 2009 attack in Osaka killed five—on August 21, 2026, was Japan’s first use of capital punishment in just over a year. Over a Decade from Sentencing to Execution Takami Sunao was executed on August 21, 2026 , for a 2009 arson attack at an Osaka pachinko parlor that killed five people. In July 2009, Takami poured gasoline on the floor of a pachinko parlor in Osaka and set it alight, killing 5 customers and staff members and injuring 10 more. While the defense argued that he was in a state of diminished capacity, the Supreme Court finalized his death sentence in February 2016. The execution took place 17 years after the initial crime and 10 and a half years after the death sentence was finalized.

Japan executes man convicted of killing five in 2009 Osaka pachinko parlor arson

Japan on Friday announced the execution of a man convicted of killing five people after setting fire to an Osaka pachinko parlor in 2009, the first execution by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi 's government as the country faces growing calls for more transparency and the abolition of capital punishment. The Justice Ministry said Sunao Takami, 58, was hanged to death earlier Friday. Takami in 2009 set fire to the crowded pachinko parlor in Osaka by spreading gasoline and throwing a lit match, engulfing the building, killing five and injuring 10 others, Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi said.

Spared execution eight times, oldest inmate in US dies at 101 after 76 years behind bars

Francis Clifford Smith was given his last meal eight times. But after being spared execution each time, he went on to be regarded as the longest-serving prisoner in the US before dying in June at 101 years old. Convicted of murder in 1950 when he was 25, he always maintained his innocence, those who knew him told the BBC. Andrius Banevicius, the public information officer for Connecticut's Department of Correction, recounted how Smith used to feed the birds while in Osborn Prison, earning him the nickname The Birdman of Osborn.

Florida | Jury recommends death sentence for Jeffrey Crum in killing of 12-year-old girl

BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — A Hernando County jury has recommended the death penalty for a 65-year-old man who was found guilty last week of raping and killing 12-year-old Jennifer Odom. Sentencing for Jeffrey Crum was held this week. Crum abducted Odom in 1993 after she stepped off her school bus in Pasco County. Her body was found in a Hernando County orange grove six days later.

Israel builds execution chamber for Palestinians convicted of murder

In March, the Knesset approved legislation that calls for the execution of Palestinians convicted by a military court of killing Israelis Israeli authorities are preparing a prison wing—replete with an execution chamber—designated specifically for Palestinian prisoners convicted of murder, Israel’s i24NEWS channel reported Tuesday. The move comes after the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) approved legislation in March that calls for the execution of Palestinian prisoners convicted by a military court of murdering Israelis.

Florida executes William Frances Silvia

Florida executed its 13th death row prisoner of the year Tuesday evening amid the state’s aggressive use of the death penalty championed by Governor Ron DeSantis. William Frances Silvia, 61, who was convicted of fatally shooting his estranged wife and injuring his mother-in-law in 2006, was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. after receiving the lethal three-drug injection at Florida State Prison.  At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Silvia was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm when the curtain to the death chamber went up.  He remained relatively motionless with his eyes and mouth open throughout most of the execution while a priest sat at his feet and prayed.

Alabama is trying a death penalty bait-and-switch

For a decade, Alabama death row inmate Jeffrey Lee has been clear that he does not want to be executed by lethal injection . But that is what awaits him on September 17 . He faces that prospect because the state has been enjoined from using nitrogen hypoxia , the alternative execution method he preferred, to put him to death. Having failed to show that its nitrogen hypoxia protocol is constitutionally acceptable, Alabama wants a do-over to force Lee to die by lethal injection as a result of its own failure. It should not get one. Alabama should only be able to put Lee to death if it can fix nitrogen hypoxia’s constitutional defects.

Israel’s Ben-Gvir posts video of gallows site for hanging Palestinian terrorists

Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has posted a video of the construction of a gallows complex where Palestinians convicted of terror offenses will be hanged. Ben-Givr said the new execution site would be equipped with viewing booths for families of victims to watch the hangings. He posted the video on social media of a visit he had made to the unidentified location, where he can be seen pointing at foundations being laid and saying it was where “terrorists will be executed." Photographs in the Israeli media showed a bulldozer and heavy construction work in a cordoned-off area, reportedly close to a prison.

Oklahoma executes Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez

Oklahoma has carried out 1 of 3 executions set for the same day in the United States in another sign of the resurgence of the death penalty in the country.  Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.  He was put to death by lethal injection for the murder of his common-law wife in 2003 at their Oklahoma City home. He admitted to police he shot her twice during an argument.  Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, did not fight for his life, stunning his attorneys in July when he told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board that he didn't want clemency. "It's time for me to pay for what I did," he said.