Sudanese Woman, Meriam Ibrahim Who Was Sentenced to Death For Marrying a Christian Will Soon be Freed

                 

 

 Khartoum has been facing international condemnation over Meriam Ibrahim's death sentence

The husband of a woman who was sentenced to death in Sudan for abandoning the Islamic faith has told the BBC that he has not been informed that his wife will be released.

A Sudanese official had said that Meriam Ibrahim, who gave birth to a daughter in custody, would be freed in a few days.

But Daniel Wani said no-one had contacted him about his wife's release.

He said he had only heard media reports, which he described as rumours.

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"No Sudanese or foreign mediator contacted me. Maybe there are contacts between the Sudanese government and foreign sides that I'm not aware of," Mr Wani told Mohammad Osman, the BBC's correspondent in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

"As far as I'm concerned I will wait for the appeal which my lawyer submitted and I hope that my wife will be released,"

Abdullahi Alzareg, an under-secretary at the foreign ministry, said on Saturday that Ms Ibrahim, 27, would be freed because Sudan guaranteed religious freedom and was committed to protecting her.

Ms Ibrahim was brought up as an Orthodox Christian, but a judge ruled last month that she should be regarded as Muslim because that had been her father's faith.

She refused to renounce her Christianity and was sentenced to death by hanging for apostasy.

Khartoum has been facing international condemnation over the death sentence.
 
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Last Wednesday, Ms Ibrahim gave birth to a daughter in her prison cell - the second child from her marriage in 2011 to Daniel Wani, a US citizen.

                             

 

The court also annulled Ms Ibrahim's Christian marriage and sentenced her to 100 lashes for adultery.

 

The court had said Ms Ibrahim would be allowed to nurse her baby for two years before the sentence was carried out.

The court also annulled her Christian marriage and sentenced her to 100 lashes for adultery because the union was not considered valid under Islamic law.

In his interview with the BBC, Mr Wani said he was hoping to continue living in Sudan with his wife and children in the event of her release, but that that might be too difficult.

"I will discuss with my wife the best place to live in and we will decide on one later. But we find it really hard to live in Khartoum after what happened."

He also expressed his hope that the court would reconsider the verdict about the annulment of their marriage, which he confirmed he had also appealed against.

Sudan has a majority Muslim population and Islamic law has been in force there since the 1980s.

The ruling has revived a debate over apostasy, with liberal and conservative scholars giving different opinions over whether - and how - the act of abandoning the Islamic faith should be punished.

SOURCE: BBC