Christian on Death Row for Apostasy: Sudan Shoots Down Hopes of Imminent Release
Photo Credit: The TimesA day after a senior Sudanese official told media outlets that Meriam Ibrahim, the Christian woman sentenced to death for apostasy, would be freed within days, Khartoum’s foreign ministry on Sunday clarified that that would happen only if an appeal court rules in her favor.
The conflicting statements were the latest twist in the case of Ibrahim, the wife of an American citizen, who was sentenced to death last month after refused to recant her Christian faith.
Based on its ruling that Ibrahim was a Muslim because her father was a Muslim, the court also determined that her 2011 marriage – to Daniel Wani, a Sudanese Christian and U.S. citizen – was invalid and consequently sentenced her to 100 lashes for “adultery.”
Pregnant at the time of her conviction and sentence, Ibrahim has since given birth in prison to a baby girl, Maya, who is now incarcerated together with her and their son, Martin, a toddler just under two years old. The court said she would be allowed to nurse her baby for two years before the sentence was carried out.
Read more from this story HERE.
____________________________________________________________________________
Sudan Set To Free Woman Sentenced To Death For Refusing To Renounce Her Christian Faith
By Caroline Schaeffer.
Meriam Ibrahim, who gave birth to a daughter while in custody this week, is set to be free, according to foreign ministry officials. Sudanese officials had sentenced the woman to 100 lashings and had given her the death sentence for having abandoned the Islamic faith, the BBC reports.
Ibrahim, 27, was raised as an Orthodox Christian and married an American. A Sudanese judge ruled in May that she should be a Muslim, because it was her father’s faith. The court ruled her marriage void. In the face of all this, she refused to renounce her Christian faith and was sentenced to death by hanging.
Read more from this story HERE.