The Deacon's Bench
Sudanese authorities are planning to free a woman who was sentenced to death for refusing to renounce her Christian faith, the BBC reported.
Meriam Ibrahim, who gave birth to a baby girl earlier this week at the clinic at the Omdurman women’s prison near Khartoum, will be released in a few days, a senior official told the BBC.
Ibrahim, 27, had been sentenced to death by hanging for apostasy, or “abandoning her faith.” She was given a period of time to renounce her Christian beliefs, but she refused.
In Sudan, conversion of Muslims to another religion is punishable by death.
The court ruled that it would not carry out her execution until she gave birth and will delay it for two years so she can nurse her child, according to Amnesty International.
Even though Ibrahim was raised Christian by her Ethiopian mother, her father was Muslim. Children are required by Sharia law to follow their father’s religion.
Ibrahim was also sentenced to 100 lashes for adultery because the court does not recognize her marriage to husband Daniel Wani, a Christian originally from South Sudan who is a U.S. citizen.
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