The Sudanese Christian woman who was freed from prison June 23 has been rearrested while trying to leave Sudan with her family.
Meriam Yahia Ibrahim, 27, was confronted by a team of 50 security personnel and taken into custody following an angry confrontation at the Khartoum airport today (June 24), NBC News reported. Ibrahim’s lawyer, Elshareef Ali Mohammed, told NBC that the Sudanese security force did not state a reason for the rearrest and took Ibrahim to a detention center with her husband Daniel Wani, who is an American citizen and two children. Her husband reportedly insisted on accompanying her.
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Meriam Yahia Ibrahim and her husband Daniel Wani |
The security team made no reference to Ibrahim’s overturned conviction, NBC reported.
The Southern Baptist Convention’s lead religious freedom advocate commented on the arrest.
“This is extremely concerning,” Russell D. Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said. “The persecution of this brave Christian woman has been a shocking violation of human rights. The church should mobilize to pray for Mariam’s safety, and for any hindrances to her being allowed to leave the country to be removed.”
Ibrahim gained her freedom after a Sudanese appeals court overturned a death sentence she received for refusing to renounce her Christian faith, Bloomberg News reported. Ibrahim, whose conviction and death sentence were greeted by international protests, was convicted under Sharia law of “apostasy” (leaving Islam) and sentenced to death by hanging. She also received a sentence of 100 lashes for adultery on the basis of her marriage to a Christian.
Ibrahim gave birth to the couple’s second child, a daughter, Maya, May 27 in the Omdurman Federal Prison for Women in Khartoum. Martin, their 20-month-old son, had been imprisoned with his mother since February.