Sudanese Woman Sentence For Marrying A Christian Will Be Freed

Sudanese authorities are to free a woman who
was sentenced to death for having abandoned the
Islamic faith, a foreign ministry official says.
Meriam Ibrahim, who gave birth to a daughter in
custody, will be freed in a few days, the official
told the BBC.
Abdullahi Alzareg, an under-secretary at the
foreign ministry, said Sudan guaranteed religious
freedom and was committed to protecting the
woman.
Khartoum has been facing international
condemnation over the death sentence.
In an interview with The Times newspaper, British
Prime Minister David Cameron described the
ruling as “barbaric” and out of step with today’s
world.
The UK Foreign Office this week said that it
would push for Ms Ibrahim to be released on
humanitarian grounds.
Apostasy debate
Ms Ibrahim, 27, was brought up as an Orthodox
Christian, but a Sudanese judge ruled earlier this
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.
On Wednesday, she 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 said Ms Ibrahim would be allowed to
nurse her baby for two years before the sentence
was carried out.
The court had earlier annulled her Christian
marriage and sentenced her to 100 lashes for
adultery because the union was not considered
valid under Islamic law.
It is not yet clear if the sentence will be carried
out.
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.