Sudan reduces sentence of woman convicted of killing husband

CAIRO — A lawyer says a Sudanese court has overturned a death sentence against a young woman convicted of killing her husband, who she says was raping her.

Al-Fateh Hussein, a lawyer for 19-year-old Noura Hussein, said late Tuesday that the appeals court in Khartoum has replaced the death penalty with a five-year sentence.

He says the court also ordered that her family pay 337,000 Sudanese pounds ($18,700) in “blood money” to her late husband’s relatives.

A criminal court convicted Hussein of killing her husband and sentenced her to death in May, a year after the killing. The sentence sparked protests and an online campaign under the hashtag #JusticeForNoura.

Her lawyers say she was forced into marriage by her parents three years ago and had initially fled her husband. (AP)