Sudan: Christian woman sentenced to die for abandoning Islam is released By Mohamed Osman Associated Press Posted: 06/23/2014 11:58:23 AM PDT1 Comment | Updated: about a month ago Click photo to enlarge FILE - In this file image made from an undated video provided Thursday, June 5,... ( Uncredited ) 1 2 3 » KHARTOUM, Sudan -- A Sudanese woman on death row for apostasy had her sentence canceled and was released by a Khartoum court on Monday, her lawyer and state media said. State news agency SUNA said the Court of Cassation canceled the death sentence against 27-year-old Meriam Ibrahim after defense lawyers presented their case. Her lawyer, Eman Abdul-Rahim, told The Associated Press that Ibrahim has left prison and is with her husband and two small children, who had been with her in jail. Ibrahim, whose father was Muslim but who was raised by her Christian mother, was convicted of apostasy for marrying a Christian. Sudans penal code criminalizes the conversion of Muslims to other religions, a crime punishable by death. Ibrahim married a Christian man from southern Sudan in a church ceremony in 2011. As in many Muslim nations, Muslim women in Sudan are prohibited from marrying non-Muslims, though Muslim men can marry outside their faith. Ibrahim has a son, 18-month-old Martin, who was living with her in jail, where she gave birth to a second child last month. By law, children must follow their fathers religion. The sentence drew international condemnation, with Amnesty International calling it abhorrent. The U.S. State Department said it was deeply disturbed by the sentence and called on the Sudanese government to respect religious freedoms. On Monday, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, who had met with the Sudanese Ambassador to discuss Ibrahims case, 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. Its not clear whether Ibrahim had planned to travel to the United States. Sudan introduced Islamic Shariah law in the early 1980s under the rule of autocrat Jaafar Nimeiri, a move that contributed to the resumption of an insurgency in the mostly animist and Christian south of Sudan. The south seceded in 2011 to become the worlds newest nation, South Sudan. Sudanese President Omar Bashir, an Islamist who seized power in a 1989 military coup, has said his country will implement Islam more strictly now that the non-Muslim south is gone. A number of Sudanese have been convicted of apostasy in recent years, but they all escaped execution by recanting their new faith. Christian woman Released From Muslim Captors With Naheed Bibi along, CDI Field Officer Haroon Tazeem and Masih accompanied five policemen, including ASI Jutt, on March 5 to Khan Baila, near Rahim Yar Khan – a journey of 370 miles, arriving that evening. Area police were not willing to cooperate and accompany them, telling them that Khan Baila was a “no-go area” they did not enter even during daytime, much less at night. Jutt told area police that he had orders from high officials to recover Shaheen Bib, and that he and Tazeem would lead the raid, the CDI source said. With Nashtar police also daring them to help, five local policemen decided to go with them for the operation, he said. At midnight on Sunday (March 6), after some encounters and raids in a jungle area where houses are miles apart, the rescue team managed to get hold of Shaheen Bibi, the CDI source said. The captors handed over Shaheen Bibi on the condition that they would not be the targets of further legal action, the CDI source said. Sensing that their foray into the danger zone had gone on long enough, Tazeem and Jutt decided to leave but told them that those who had sold Shaheen Bib in Lahore would be brought to justice. Fatigued and fragile when she arrived in Lahore on Monday (March 7), Shaheen Bibi told CDN through her attorneys that she would pursue legal action against those who sold her fraudulently into slavery and humiliation. She said that she had been chained to a tree outside a house, where she prayed continually that God would help her out of the seemingly impossible situation. After the kidnappers gave her father the March 5 deadline last week, Shaheen Bibi said, at one point she lifted her eyes in prayer, saw a cross in the sky and was comforted that God’s mighty hand would release her even though her father had no money to pay ransom. On four previous occasions, she said, her captors had decided to kill her and had changed their mind. Shaheen Bibi said there were about 10 other women in captivity with her, some whose hands or legs were broken because they had refused to be forcibly given in marriage. Among the women was one from Bangladesh who had abandoned hope of ever returning home as she had reached her 60s in captivity. Masih told CDN that he had prayed that God would send help, as he had no money to pay the ransom. The day before the deadline for paying the ransom, he said, he had 100 rupees (less than US$2) in his pocket. User avatar Marie Posts: 2895Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 4:25 pmGender: None specified Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Re: Christian woman Released From Muslim Captors Postby ringmaster » Tue Mar 15, 2011 9:02 pm I wonder how much the ransom was.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 07:46:59 +0000
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