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A mother facing the death penalty in Sudan for abandoning her religious faith was said last night to be on the verge of being freed.
The case of Meriam Ibrahim sparked international condemnation from world leaders earlier this month after a Sudanese court ruled the then heavily pregnant woman would face the death penalty for refusing to renounce her Christian faith. The court ruled she was to be given 100 lashes and then hanged after she had given birth.
Last night, the BBC reported that a Sudanese foreign ministry official had said Ms Ibrahim, a doctor, who gave birth to a girl while in prison earlier this week, will be freed from custody ?in a few days? time?, according to Abdullahi Alazreg, an under-secretary at the foreign ministry. Mr Alazreg reportedly said that Sudan guaranteed religious freedom and was committed to protecting the woman.
Ms Ibrahim, 27, was brought up as an Orthodox Christian by her mother and married a Christian, but the court ruled she should be regarded as Muslim because it had been her father?s faith ? a charged she denied. ?I am a Christian. I did not convert from Islam,? she told the Haj Yousif court in Khartoum. In refusing to renounce her faith, her Christian marriage in 2011 was annulled and she was sentenced to death for apostasy. Sex outside a ?lawful relationship? is also regarded as adultery under Sudanese law.
Speaking from jail after she was sentenced, she said, according to her lawyer : ?I don?t want anything. I just want to be outside this prison. I want to be free.?
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