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Post by fretslider on Jun 1, 2014 13:45:19 GMT -5
Sudan’s foreign ministry on Sunday repudiated a pledge the government would order the release of Meriam Ibrahim, the mother sentenced to death for apostasy, warning only the country’s courts could order her freedom.
Western nations including Britain have expressed outrage that Ms Ibrahim, who gave birth to her daughter Maya in prison last week, had been convicted of changing her faith from Islam to Christianity. Sudanese officials suggested late on Saturday that the 27-year-old was to be released and her death sentence is to be annulled. But Abu Bakr al-Sideeg, spokesman for the foreign ministry in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, said on Sunday that only the courts had such powers and foreign ministry officials would have no power over Ms Ibrahim’s case. “[ I am] not aware that any release is imminent”, he added.
Her husband, Daniel Wani, a biochemist, has said that he and his wife’s lawyers will continue to pursue official avenues through the courts to have the sentence and the judgment quashed. Mr Wani, who has dual American-Sudanese citizenship, dismissed the reports as “rumours”. “No Sudanese or foreign mediator contacted me. Maybe there are contacts between the Sudanese government and foreign sides that I’m not aware of,” Mr Wani told the BBC. “As far as I’m concerned I will wait for the appeal which my lawyer submitted and I hope that my wife will be released.”
Manar Idriss, Sudan researcher for Amnesty International, said: “We’ve received no confirmation that Meriam is going to be released and the appeal court has yet to issue any such ruling confirming a release.” Ms Ibrahim’s father was a Muslim, but she was raised as a Christian by her Christian mother, and says that she has not committed apostasy because she was never a Muslim.
Judges in Sudan’s strict courts system disagreed. Ms Ibrahim was found guilty of abandoning Islam and of adultery with a Christian man and sentenced to 100 lashes and death. Ms Ibrahim testified that she was raised as a Christian after her father abandoned the family when she was young.
She produced a marriage certificate as evidence that she had not committed adultery, and called three witnesses from her eastern Sudanese home town to testify of her lifelong adherence to Christianity. But she was found guilty of apostasy on May 11, and given four days to convert to Islam. When she refused, she was sentenced to hang - although the judge ruled that it should not be carried out until two years after she had given birth.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/sudan/10868399/Sudan-backtracks-on-pledge-to-free-woman-sentenced-to-death-for-apostasy.html
Clearly, whether or not a child has a mother in Islam isn't that important.
Western nations including Britain have expressed outrage that Ms Ibrahim, who gave birth to her daughter Maya in prison last week, had been convicted of changing her faith from Islam to Christianity. Sudanese officials suggested late on Saturday that the 27-year-old was to be released and her death sentence is to be annulled. But Abu Bakr al-Sideeg, spokesman for the foreign ministry in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, said on Sunday that only the courts had such powers and foreign ministry officials would have no power over Ms Ibrahim’s case. “[ I am] not aware that any release is imminent”, he added.
Her husband, Daniel Wani, a biochemist, has said that he and his wife’s lawyers will continue to pursue official avenues through the courts to have the sentence and the judgment quashed. Mr Wani, who has dual American-Sudanese citizenship, dismissed the reports as “rumours”. “No Sudanese or foreign mediator contacted me. Maybe there are contacts between the Sudanese government and foreign sides that I’m not aware of,” Mr Wani told the BBC. “As far as I’m concerned I will wait for the appeal which my lawyer submitted and I hope that my wife will be released.”
Manar Idriss, Sudan researcher for Amnesty International, said: “We’ve received no confirmation that Meriam is going to be released and the appeal court has yet to issue any such ruling confirming a release.” Ms Ibrahim’s father was a Muslim, but she was raised as a Christian by her Christian mother, and says that she has not committed apostasy because she was never a Muslim.
Judges in Sudan’s strict courts system disagreed. Ms Ibrahim was found guilty of abandoning Islam and of adultery with a Christian man and sentenced to 100 lashes and death. Ms Ibrahim testified that she was raised as a Christian after her father abandoned the family when she was young.
She produced a marriage certificate as evidence that she had not committed adultery, and called three witnesses from her eastern Sudanese home town to testify of her lifelong adherence to Christianity. But she was found guilty of apostasy on May 11, and given four days to convert to Islam. When she refused, she was sentenced to hang - although the judge ruled that it should not be carried out until two years after she had given birth.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/sudan/10868399/Sudan-backtracks-on-pledge-to-free-woman-sentenced-to-death-for-apostasy.html
Clearly, whether or not a child has a mother in Islam isn't that important.
