The young girl could face the death penalty if found guilty.
Wasila Tasi'u, a 14-year-old girl from Unguwar Yansoro, a village in northern Nigeria, has been accused of murdering her 35-year-old husband of two weeks with rat poison.
AFP / Getty Images AMINU ABUBAKAR
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the teenager, who sobbed in Gezawa High Court in northern Nigeria as the judge, Mohammed Yahaya, entered a plea of not guilty on her behalf.
The defence's application to have the case transferred to a juvenile court was rejected by the judge.
Her father, Isyaku Tasi'u, told the Associated Press that he was appealing to a Nigerian court "to consider his daughter's plea".
Human rights activists are outraged by the case. According to the charity Girls Not Brides, 39% of girls in Nigeria are married off before their 18th birthday.
Zubeida Nagee, a women's rights activist, told the Associated Press that Tasi'u was married to the man against her will and that she was a victim of systematic abuse.
"She was married to a man that she didn't love. She protested but her parents forced her to marry him," she said.
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