Woman set to be stoned to death for 'adultery'

Human rights groups are mobilising against the death sentence of a woman in Sudan. Maryam Alsyed Tiyrab was sentenced to death by stoning over charges of adultery and was arrested in July from her house in White Nile state.

The woman had been living with her parents after separating from her husband in 2020. Her husband later accused her of adultery. She was found guilty in June this year by a court in the city of Kosti.

Tiyrab has also appealed against her conviction, and the court is expected to pass a judgement soon.

Human rights campaigners have been calling for her release stating that she did not get a fair trial. They have claimed that the woman was not even given access to a lawyer while in custody.

"We have grounds to believe she was illegally forced into signing a confession by the police," says Mossaad Mohamed Ali, executive director of the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS), per BBC.

Sudan is one of the countries that still has death by stoning as a punishment. Other countries where stoning is a legal form of punishment are Brunei, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran.

Under the interpretation of Sharia law in Sudan, floggings and amputations have been established as standard punishment for criminal offences and broadcast on television, while hundreds of women and girls are punished for indecent or immoral attire.

In 2013, another 20-year-old Sudanese woman was sentenced to death by stoning on charges of adultery. She did not have access to a lawyer during her trial, and was convicted based on testimony she gave after being beaten by her brother, according to Amnesty International

Death by stoning is a penalty that violates international human rights standards, including article 5 of the Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, which prohibits "cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment."