Sudanese court frees woman sentenced to death for changing faith
Mon Jun 23, 2014 7:47pm GMT
(Adds Foreign Ministry statement)
KHARTOUM, June 23 (Reuters) - A 27-year-old woman who was sentenced to death
in Sudan last month for converting to Christianity from Islam was freed on
Monday after what the government said was "unprecedented" international
pressure.
Mariam Yahya Ibrahim, who is married to a Christian American, was ordered by
a Sudanese court last month to return to Islam and was sentenced to 100
lashes and to death.
Her release is likely to be welcomed by human rights groups and Western
governments who voiced outrage at the ruling.
Britain had last month summoned the Sudanese charge d'affaires in protest at
the sentencing.
"The appeal court ordered the release of Mariam Yahya and the cancellation
of the (previous) court ruling," Sudan's SUNA news agency said. A government
official had told Reuters on May 31 that Sudanese officials were working to
release Ibrahim.
Ibrahim was sent to a secret location for her protection, her lawyer said.
"Her family had been threatened before and we are worried that someone might
try to harm her," the lawyer, Mohaned Mostafa, told Reuters.
Ibrahim gave birth in prison to a daughter, her second child by her husband
Daniel Wani, whom she married in 2011.
Sudan's Foreign Ministry said it had come under "unprecedented"
international pressure to free Ibrahim.
"Now that the independent Sudanese judiciary has said its word in the case
of a single national, the Foreign Ministry would like to remind the
international community about the continued suffering of 35 million
nationals as a result of sanctions," its statement said.
The United States imposed sanctions on Sudan in 1997 over alleged human
rights violations and support for what it called "international terrorism",
then strengthened the penalties in 2006 over Khartoum's festering conflict
with rebels in Darfur. (Reporting by Maaz Alnugomi in Khartoum, Writing by
Yasmine Saleh; Editing by Alison Williams)