ICC Note:
Months back, The Guardian asked its readers ti submit questions that would be answered directly by Meriam Ibrahim, a Christian mother of two who was sentenced to death in Sudan for converting from Islam to Christianity. The following is an summation of her responses.
02/03/2015 United States (The Guardian) – Meriam Ibrahim made global headlines last year when Sudanese authorities sentenced her to death for apostasy after she married a Christian man. She was jailed at eight months pregnant and said she was forced to give birth “shackled to the floor”.
Ibrahim’s case drew global condemnation from human rights campaigners and international politicians alike. Sudan finally agreed to release her, and allowed her to leave the country in June.
The 27-year-old has now started a new life in exile with her family in the United States. Here, she answers Guardian readers’ questions about her incarceration with her children, her strength of faith, and the ongoing battle for human rights in her homeland.
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ClarkEKhat was interested in where Ibrahim laid the blame for her situation – was it with religion, the state, or individuals?
“I think that the blame is with the state because they are supporting the extremists and the exercises of religious persecution of Christians in Sudan,” Ibrahim said. She also accused the government of destroying churches and torturing Christians.
Open Doors UK, a campaign group that tracks global persecutions against Christians, ranks Sudan as the sixth worst offender in the world and accuse President Omar al-Bashir of using the “rise of radical Islam to maintain his power base”.
Ibrahim was released from prison on 23 June last year and allowed to leave the country. She flew to meet the pope at the Vatican before moving to the United States with her family. Her husband Daniel was already a US citizen.
When [my son Martin] cried and said he wanted his father the guards hit him and said ‘you do not have a father’
Ookymooky wanted to know if she felt settled, happy and safe and if her children had recovered from their ordeal?
Ibrahim replied to say: “I’m happy, despite the difficult circumstances, what happened, what I faced, was a test of my faith … I succeeded because I am convinced of what I do.”
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