Sudan to free woman facing death for Christian faith: report - New York Daily News

Global Justice Center in Sudan Meriam Ibrahim and husband Daniel Wani were married in 2011. Both are Christian.

Sudanese authorities are planning to free a woman who was sentenced to death for refusing to renounce her Christian faith, the BBC reported.

Meriam Ibrahim, who gave birth to a baby girl earlier this week at the clinic at the Omdurman women's prison near Khartoum, will be released in a few days, a senior official told the BBC.

Ibrahim, 27, had been sentenced to death by hanging for apostasy, or “abandoning her faith.” She was given a period of time to renounce her Christian beliefs, but she refused.

In Sudan, conversion of Muslims to another religion is punishable by death.

AFP PHOTO/HO/FAMILY Meriam Ibrahim’s husband, Daniel Wani, holds their newborn daughter at Omdurman women's prison in Sudan. Ibrahim’s hanging will be delayed for two years so she can nurse her baby.

The court ruled that it would not carry out her execution until she gave birth and will delay it for two years so she can nurse her child, according to Amnesty International.

Even though Ibrahim was raised Christian by her Ethiopian mother, her father was Muslim. Children are required by Sharia law to follow their father’s religion.

Ibrahim was also sentenced to 100 lashes for adultery because the court does not recognize her marriage to husband Daniel Wani, a Christian originally from South Sudan who is a U.S. citizen.

AFP PHOTO/HO/FAMILY Daniel Wani, a U.S. citizen originally from South Sudan, is also a Christian, so Sudanese law does not recognize their marriage. The state will not give him custody of their other child, a 20-month-old boy, because the law considers the child to be a Muslim and he isn’t allowed to be raised by his Christian father.

Muslim women in Sudan are forbidden to marry outside their faith, although Muslim men can marry non-Muslims.

On Friday, her family released photos taken Wednesday of Wani cradling their daughter.

Ibrahim and Wani also have a 20-month-old son, who is with his mother in jail.

Ibrahim's lawyers have said they have plans to appeal the death sentence.

With News Wire Services

vtaylor@nydailynews.com

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