Eman Abdul-Rahman, the lawyer for 27-year-old Sudanese
Christian woman whose death sentence for apostasy was overturned, Mariam
Ibrahim, has revealed that she was released from a police station after foreign
diplomats pressed the government to free her. She was detained along with her
husband and two small children, one born behind bars. They were arrested at
Khartoum's airport on Tuesday while trying to leave the country with her
family.
Ibrahim, whose father was Muslim but who was raised by her
Christian mother, was convicted of apostasy for marrying a Christian man from
southern Sudan in a church ceremony in 2011. As in many Muslim nations, Muslim
women in Sudan are prohibited from marrying non-Muslims, though Muslim men can
marry outside their faith. By law, children must follow their father's
religion.
Sudan's penal code forbids Muslims from converting to other
religions, a crime punishable by death.
The sentence drew international condemnation, with Amnesty
International calling it "abhorrent." The U.S. State Department said
it was "deeply disturbed" by the sentence and called on the Sudanese
government to respect religious freedoms.
On Monday, Sudan's Court of Cassation threw out Ibrahim's
death sentence and freed her after a presentation by her legal team.
0 Comments