The Sudanese woman who was sentenced to death for apostasy last month was freed Monday.
Meriam Ibrahim with her husband
bbc.com / Via youtube.com
A Sudanese woman sentenced to death for refusing to recant her Christian faith was freed Monday by a court in Khartoum, Sudan, the Associated Press reported. She has left prison and rejoined her Christian husband and their two young children, one of whom she gave birth to while in prison, her lawyers and state media told the AP.
Meriam Ibrahim, 27, was freed after the Court of Cassation heard her lawyer's defense.
Ibrahim married a Christian man from southern Sudan in 2011. Although her father is Muslim, she was raised by her Christian mother. In Sudan, however, children must follow their father's religion. It is illegal for a Muslim woman to convert to other religions, a crime punishable by death. Muslim men can legally marry outside of their faith.
Ibrahim's sentencing drew widespread international attention. Amnesty International deemed it "abhorrent," and the U.S. State Department said it was "deeply disturbed" by the decision and called on the Sudanese government to acknowledge religious freedoms.
President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir (right) poses with Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani after granting him a Medal of Honor during the latter’s visit to Khartoum on April 2.
ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP / Getty Images
On Monday, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, who discussed Ibrahim's case with the Sudanese Ambassador, described the release as "a huge first step."
"But the second step is that Ms. Ibrahim and her husband and their children be on a plane heading to the United States," he added.
On Monday Secretary of State John Kerry released a statement praising the court's decision to free Ibrahim and asking the government to respect its people's "fundamental freedoms and universal human rights."
Sudan's then-leader Jaafar al-Nimeiri introduced Islamic Shariah law in the early 1980s, which led to an insurgency in the mostly Christian southern part of the state. South Sudan eventually seceded in 2011 and became the world's newest country.
Sudanese President Omar Bashir, an Islamist who has been in power since 1989, said that he plans to implement stricter laws now that the non-Muslim south is no longer part of the nation.
Many other Sudanese people have been convicted of apostasy in recent years, but they successfully escaped execution by recanting their new faith, the Associated Press reported.
from BuzzFeed - Breaking http://ift.tt/1j94DPK
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