Noura Hussein, 19, was sentenced to death in May after a Sharia court, which follows Islamic religious laws, found her guilty of premeditated murder for stabbing her husband, whom she was forced to marry.
A court of appeal on Tuesday rejected the death penalty
, reducing Hussein's crime to manslaughter and punishing her with five years in jail and a fine of 375 Sudanese pounds ($20)."We are of course elated, but this is just one small step in the right direction for women in Sudan," said Judy Gitau, a lawyer with the charity Equality Now, which is working with Hussein's legal team.
"We still aren't satisfied with the five years in prison as it's not fair for a girl who was trying to defend herself."
Gitau said Hussein's lawyers plan to visit her in prison, where she has been held for two months, to see if she will appeal once again.
Hussein claims that her father forced her to marry her 35-year-old cousin when she was 16, but she did not live with him until April this year.
She said she refused to have sex with her husband, but he raped her as three of his relatives held her down. The following day, he attempted to rape her again and, as she struggled to stop him, she stabbed and killed him.
Marital rape and child marriage are not considered crimes in the predominately Moslem African nation.
Sudanese law allows for the marriage of a girl once she hits puberty, and a 10-year-old girl can be married by a guardian with the permission of a judge.