Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Sudan apostasy woman: Meriam Ibrahim 'to be freed' after death sentence for marrying Christian man

Meriam Ibrahim, a Sudanese woman sentenced to death after she married a Christian man and refused to renounce her Christian faith is to be freed, according to reports

Tomas Jivanda
Saturday 31 May 2014 14:40 EDT
Comments
Meriam Ibrahim with her husband Daniel Wani. Miriam has been sentenced to death by a Sudanese court for apostasy
Meriam Ibrahim with her husband Daniel Wani. Miriam has been sentenced to death by a Sudanese court for apostasy (Facebook/ Daniel Wani )

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Meriam Yahya Ibrahim, who was sentenced to death in Sudan after she married a Christian man, is to be freed, a Sudanese foreign ministry official has said.

The decision comes after the Sudanese government faced mounting pressure from the international community over her “barbaric” treatment.

Abdullahi Alzareg, an under-secretary at the foreign ministry, said the county was committed to protecting the woman and guaranteed religious freedom.

Ms Ibrahim, raised a Christian by her mother, was ruled by a judge to have turned her back on Islam and convicted of apostasy, because her father was a Muslim.

As well as marrying a Christian man, the 27-year-old doctor had refused to renounce her Christian faith.

Sentenced to death while eight months pregnant, Ms Ibrahim gave birth to her baby daughter Maya this week while shackled in heavy chains in the hospital wing of Omdurman Women’s Prison.

The judge annulled the Christian marriage and Ms Ibrahim was sentenced to an additional 100 lashes for adultery because her union was deemed illegitimate under Islamic law.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in