ICC Note:
Meriam Yahia Ibrahim, a Christian mother and American Citizen’s wife pregnant with her second child has languished in a Sudanese prison for her faith since February. Charged with adultery and apostasy, Ibrahim was convicted May 11 and sentenced to 100 lashes and death May 15. Sudan, designated a Country of Particular Concern by the United States’ Department of State since 1999 continues to advance President Omar al-Bashir’s Islamist agenda, implementing it’s Sharia-inspired Public Order Criminal Code more and more strictly. Christians in Sudan suffer immense social histolities and government repression for practicing their faith. Many now fear President Bashir meant it when he said he intends to make Sudan a “purely” Islamic state.
05/16/2014 Sudan (CNN) – Hours after a Sudanese court sentenced his pregnant wife to death when she refused to recant her Christian faith, her husband told CNN he feels helpless.
“I’m so frustrated. I don’t know what to do,” Daniel Wani told CNN on Thursday. “I’m just praying.”
This week a Khartoum court convicted his wife, Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, 27, of apostasy, or the renunciation of faith.
Ibrahim is Christian, her husband said. But the court considers her to be Muslim.
The court also convicted her of adultery and sentenced her to 100 lashes because her marriage to a Christian man is considered void under Sharia law.
The court gave her until Thursday to recant her Christian faith — something she refused to do, according to her lawyer.
During Thursday’s sentencing hearing, a sheikh told the court “how dangerous a crime like this is to Islam and the Islamic community,” said attorney Mohamed Jar Elnabi, who’s representing Ibrahim.
“I am a Christian,” Ibrahim fired back, “and I will remain a Christian.”
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