Sudan summons U.S., South Sudan envoys in row over Christian convert
Wed Jun 25, 2014 7:04pm GMT
* Woman freed from death row after international pressure
* She was then detained over travel documents
* Washington working with Sudan to resolve dispute (Updates with U.S. State
Department comment paragraphs 11-13)
By Maaz Alnugomi
KHARTOUM, June 25 (Reuters) - Sudan has summoned the U.S. and South Sudanese
ambassadors over the new detention of a Christian convert who was trying to
fly to the United States with her family after being released from death
row, the state's top security service said on Wednesday.
Mariam Yahya Ibrahim was freed on Monday after an appeals court cancelled
the death sentence imposed for having converted from Islam to marry her
Christian husband, after the government came under what it called
unprecedented international pressure.
But she was detained again on Tuesday for trying to use documents issued by
the embassy of South Sudan to fly out of Khartoum with her American-South
Sudanese husband and their two children - deepening the diplomatic wrangle
over her case.
Sudan does not recognise her as a South Sudanese citizen because, despite
lifting her sentence, it does not recognise her marriage to a Christian,
something not allowed under the Islamic laws applied in Sudan, where most
people are Sunni Muslims.
South Sudan, with a majority Christian population, became independent from
Sudan after a public vote in 2011 that ended years of civil war between the
two states.
"The airport passport police arrested Abrar after she presented emergency
travel documents issued by the South Sudanese embassy and carrying an
American visa," Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services' media
department said on Facebook, referring to Ibrahim by her Muslim name.
"The Sudanese authorities considered (the action) a criminal violation, and
the Foreign Ministry summoned the American and South Sudanese ambassadors."
Her lawyer, Mohaned Mostafa, told Reuters Ibrahim was charged with forging
the travel papers. Forging a document is punishable by up to five years in
prison.
On Wednesday, she was still being held at a Khartoum police station where
she had spent the night with her family, who refused to go without her,
Mostafa said.
U.S. HELP
Her case triggered an international outcry and was closely monitored by
Washington and London, which last month summoned the Sudanese charge
d'affaires to protest against Ibrahim's initial death sentence and urge
Sudan to uphold its international obligations on freedom of religion or
belief.
In Washington, the State Department said embassy staff had been in touch
with Ibrahim on Wednesday and taken her things she needed. The Sudanese
"have said they will keep them (the family) safe and we are absolutely going
to make sure they do", spokeswoman Marie Harf said.
She said the U.S. envoy met Sudanese Foreign Ministry officials at their
request. She said he told them the family needed to be able "to depart as
swiftly as possible from Sudan and that we are happy to help in anyway we
can".
She declined to discuss details of Ibrahim's travel documents.
South Sudan's presidential spokesman said Ibrahim's American husband was a
South Sudanese citizen and that was the reason that his family's travel
documents were issued from the South Sudan embassy in Khartoum.
The United States has imposed economic sanctions on Sudan since 1997 over
alleged human rights violations. It intensified sanctions in 2006 over
Khartoum's actions in its conflict with rebels in the western region of
Darfur. (Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammed in Washington and Odera
Carlvins in Juba; Writing by Yasmine Saleh in Cairo; Editing by Alison
Williams)