Woman, 20, faces death by stoning for cheating on her husband in the first case for a decade

Maryam Alsyed Tiyrab, 20, was arrested last month in Sudan's White Nile state before being convicted of adultery and sentenced to died by stoning on June 26 - a decision she hopes to overturn by the country's High Court

Sudanese women and girls take to the streets of Khartoum as they join ongoing protests against military rule on July 6 (

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A woman in Sudan will be stoned to death for cheating on her husband in the first such case in 10 years.

Maryam Alsyed Tiyrab, 20, was arrested in Sudan's White Nile state last month before being found guilty of adultery by a court on June 26.

Maryam - who had returned to her family home after separating from her husband - claims she was interrogated by police and forced to make an unlawful confession.

The Sharia judge ordered that she be stoned to death, a decision which she appealed to the High Court of Sudan.

The 20-year-old says she was denied a lawyer and the court did not get a complaint from the police before her trial began.

Two refugee women from Eritrea and Ethiopia walk past a refugee camp in eastern Sudan (

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In Sudan - which uses Sharia as its legal structure - those convicted of Hudud crimes, which include theft, highway robbery, adultery and apostasy, can have their hands and feet cut off, be whipped or even killed by the state.< /p>

The last time a woman was sentenced to death by stoning for cheating on her partner in Sudan was in 2013 - but the woman escaped death when the High Court overturned the decision.

Human rights groups are calling for Maryam's immediate release.

The Uganda-based African Center for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) has called for Tiyrab's "immediate and unconditional release" and accused the Sudanese government of violating national and international law.< /p>

In a statement, the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) said: "The application of the death penalty by stoning for the crime of adultery is a serious violation of international law, including the right to life and the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."