Sudanese court overturns stoning sentence for young woman

November 24, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – A Sudanese appeal court ordered a retrial of a young woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery after overturning the rule of the lower court.

On 26 June 2022, Maryam Alsyed Tiyrab, a 20-year woman has been sentenced to be stoned to death by Kosti Criminal Court in White Nile State.

Lawyer Intisar Abdallah, who is defending Tirab, confirmed to Sudan Tribune on Thursday the decision of the court of appeal to cancel the trial court’s decision to stone Tirab to death.

Abdallah added that the courts of appeal decided to return the case for judicial review to the first-instance court due to the lack of implementation of fair trial standards.

Tirab was tried without legal advice or a lawyer to represent her in court.

last August, Sudanese rights groups called to cancel the death sentence by stoning from the criminal law of 1991 which is still in effect after the removal of the Islamist regime in April 2019.

Call for release

In a statement on Thursday, the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) cautiously welcomed the verdict of the court of appeal pointing out that the judge “has called into question whether or not the young lady’s status fulfils the criteria of being married, and thus could be subjected to death by stoning.”

Under the Sudanese Criminal Act of 199, the stoning to death sentence can only be applied to married men or women in line with Islamic legislation.

However, the regional group called for “changing the miserable situation of women’s human rights, and urgently conduct fundamental reform of Sudan’s legal framework”.

Also, SIHA called for pressure on the Sudanese authorities to release the young woman and to end the illegal prosecution.

(ST)