Free At Last : Sudan Woman Who Was Sentenced To Death For Marrying A Christian Has Been Released

Meriam Ibrahim who was sentenced to death last month for adultery and apostasy in Sudan has been freed from prison after a court ordered her release.

According to Daily Mail, the case of 27-year-old Ibrahim, who married a  Christian American, triggered an international outcry. She gave birth to a baby daughter while in prison.

According to Sudan’s SUNA news, ‘The appeal court ordered the release of Mariam Yahya and the cancellation of the (previous) court ruling.’ The couple’s 20-month-old son was also held in prison with Ms Ibrahim and her newborn daughter.

She was only finally freed this afternoon.
Ms Ibrahim’s lawyer Mohaned Mostafa said after her release she had been sent ‘to an unknown house to stay at for her protection and security.’
‘Her family had been threatened before and we are worried that someone might try to harm her,’ he said.
In an interview with CNN earlier this month, Al Samani Al Hadi Mohamed Abdullah said that if Meriam was killed, it would have ‘enforced God’s word’ because she broke sharia. He has threatened to kill her himself if she was not executed.

Ms Ibrahim is married to Daniel Wani, an American citizen who is Christian.
Mr Wani’s brother Gabriel, who lives in Manchester, New Hampshire, said: ‘If it’s true it is great news. Knowing him he will want to bring her back to America as soon as he can. I hope he can do that.’

As well as the death sentence for apostasy (the crime of abandoning your religion) Ms Ibrahim was also sentenced to 100 lashes for what the court deemed her adultery for marrying a Christian.

Born to a Muslim father, she was convicted under Islamic sharia law that has been in force in Sudan since 1983 and outlaws conversions on pain of death.

She gave birth just 12 days after the verdict. It had been thought she was still shackled throughout the delivery and beyond, according to the rules which stipulate the treatment of death row inmates in Sudan.

But Mohanad Mustafa, one of Ms Ibrahim’s lawyers, told AFP last week that jailers removed the chains after she gave birth to her daughter.

‘This is on order by the doctor,’ he said, adding that he didn’t think the shackles would be put back on again.

‘After she gave birth the conditions got better,’ said Mr Mustafa. ‘She has air conditioning. She has a good bed,’ he said after he and Ms Ibrahim’s Catholic husband, Daniel Wani, visited her.