Sudanese Christian mom spared death sentence rearrested trying to leave country

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Meriam Ibrahim and Daniel Wani married in a formal church ceremony in 2011.

 

Sudanese authorities have re-arrested a young mother a day after she was freed from death row where she'd been sent for refusing to renounce her Christian faith, FoxNews.com confirmed.

 

Meriam Ibrahim, who gave birth in a Khartoum prison after being sentenced to death in May for allegedly converting from Islam to Christianity, was arrested with her husband, Daniel Wani, at Khartoum airport as she tried to leave the country, according to Al-Sharif Ali, a member of her legal team.

"We don't have a reason as to why," said Ali. "Her husband is also being detained. We have tried to see them, but it has been very difficult. The national security force will not allow us to meet with them."

 

Ibrahim and Daniel Wani, as well as their two children, were taken to a facility used by Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service aft the arrest, at 2 p.m. local time, a source close to the family told FoxNews.com. They had travel documents furnished by the U.S. embassy, but Ibrahim did not have a passport, the source said.

"She is either banned from traveling or the NISS could also create "papers issues" if they don't want her to leave the country," the source said.

Wani holds dual U.S.-Sudanese citizenship, and Ibrahim's supporters argued that their children, including a daughter named Maya born in prison in May and a 20-month-old boy named Martin who was imprisoned with her, are U.S. citizens.

Ibrahim, 27, refused to renounce her Christian faith in court in May, prompting a judge to sentence her to hang for apostasy. The case became an international cause, with several U.S. lawmakers and the State Department blasting the decision as barbaric. Sudan's national news service SUNA said the Court of Cassation in Khartoum on Monday canceled the death sentence after defense lawyers presented their case, and that the court ordered her release.

Sources close to the situation told FoxNews.com on Monday that Ibrahim's lawyers were scheduled to meet with representatives from the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday. Ali told FoxNews.com he is still hoping to reach a resolution, and plans to try to see Ibrahim on Wednesday.

“This is a deeply troubling development,” said Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice, which gathered more than 300,000 signatures for an online petition demanding Ibrahim's freedom.. “The decision to take the entire family into custody is a violation of international law and we call on Sudan to release them without delay. Meriam and her family’s fate are now unclear.

Ibrahim and Wani were married in a formal ceremony in 2011 and operate several businesses, including a farm, south of Khartoum, the country’s capital.

Wani fled to the United States as a child to escape the civil war in southern Sudan, but later returned. He is not permitted to have custody of his son because the boy is considered Muslim and cannot be raised by a Christian man.

Ibrahim’s case first came to the attention of authorities in August, after members of her father’s family complained that she was born a Muslim but married a Christian man. The relatives claimed her birth name was “Afdal” before she changed it to Meriam and produced a document that indicated she was given a Muslim name at birth. Her attorney has alleged the document was a fake.

Ibrahim says her mother was an Ethiopian Christian and her father a Muslim who abandoned the family when she was a child. Ibrahim was initially charged with having illegitimate sex last year, but she remained free pending trial. She was later charged with apostasy and jailed in February after she declared in court that Christianity was the only religion she knew.

“I was never a Muslim,” she told the Sudanese high court. “I was raised a Christian from the start.”
Sudan’s penal code criminalizes the conversion of Muslims to other religions, which is punishable by death. Muslim women in Sudan are further prohibited from marrying non-Muslims, although Muslim men are permitted to marry outside their faith. Children, by law, must follow their father’s religion.

JEM, NUP sign agreement on comprehensive political solution

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June 23, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The National Umma Party (NUP) and the Darfur Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) signed a joint agreement in the US emphasizing the importance of a comprehensive solution in Sudan that leads to a specific transitional period after which free and fair elections are held in which everyone can participate.

A fighter of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) (file/Reuters)

On Monday, the NUP in Khartoum distributed the text of the joint statement of the coordination committee consisting of JEM and NUP offices in the US. The agreement was signed by the deputy chief of the JEM bureau in the US Mohammad al-Hassan and his NUP counterpart Osman Abu-Janna.

According to the agreement, which was reached after extensive consultations, the two sides stated that a comprehensive and just solution must be preceded by a creating a favorable environment by undertaking measures such as stopping the war, abolition of laws that restrict freedoms and releasing all political detainees and POW’s.

The signatories strongly condemned what they called "appalling abuses and atrocities" committed by Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against civilians, and demanded the dismantling of the militia and prosecution of its leaders. They pledged to work together in all forums to detect and expose these abuses if it continues.

Al-Mahdi, who agreed to participate in the national dialogue called for by president Omer Hassan al-Bashir earlier this year, was arrested on 17 May for criticising alleged crimes and atrocities committed by the RSF in conflict zones.

He was released this and state media said the move was done after al-Mahdi’s lawyers appealed to the justice minister Mohamed Bushara Dousa to use his powers under article (58) of Sudan’s penal code which allows him to stop criminal proceedings against any suspect at any point before being sentenced by a court.

It also carried a statement by NUP Central Commission stating that they support the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and said that what al-Mahdi mentioned regarding RSF is derived from complaints and claims "that are not necessarily all true".

However, al-Mahdi said in his prayer sermon last Friday that the Central Commission’s statement was misinterpreted, adding that it was not an apology but “a clarification action”.

JEM and NUP also rejected any attempt to fragment solutions to the problem of Sudan "because it only prolongs the duration of the regime and leads everyone into the abyss”.

A similar agreement between the NUP and the Sudan People Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) sealed this month angered authorities in Sudan.

Pro-government lawyers called for prosecuting the NUP Secretary General Sara Nugdalla for criticising the judiciary in their joint statement and questioning its integrity adding that this move threatens security in Darfur and Kordofan states.

The NUP and the opposition Reform Now Party (RNP) suspended participation in the national dialogue to protest al-Mahdi’s arrest and what they said was a government crackdown on political and media liberties.