“FREE MERIAM!!”
by Sharon Rondeau
(May 25, 2014) — The Sudanese embassy in Washington, DC insists that the case of Meriam Ibrahim Wani, the eight-month-pregnant young mother who has been jailed, shackled, and reportedly mistreated after a Muslim relative reported her for adultery and “apostasy” last year, is “neither religious nor political.”
Her sentence for refusing to reject her Christian faith is 100 lashes and then hanging two years after she gives birth should she survive the lashing.
Meriam was arrested after her brother claimed that she had committed adultery by marrying a Christian, Daniel Wani. Meriam’s husband is a naturalized U.S. citizen who has sought assistance from the U.S. embassy in Khartoum but reportedly received none.
On May 21, Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) said that “the clock is ticking” for Meriam, her young son, Martin, and her unborn child. “That 20-month-old child is an American citizen because her husband is an American citizen,” Sekulow said. Martin Wani was reported to have been born in the United States, but another report states that he was born in Sudan.
Obama’s purported father was not an American citizen; therefore, applying the same principle, Obama is not, either. The White House claims he was born in Hawaii, but historically, that would not be enough to make him a “natural born Citizen” as is constitutionally required for the president and commander-in-chief.
Daniel was asked to provide a DNA sample by the U.S. embassy to prove that he is Martin’s father in order to attempt to obtain a passport for the child. Daniel was naturalized in 2005 and has been living and working in New Hampshire but reportedly had plans to bring his wife and son to the U.S. before their arrest.
Although in a wheelchair and suffering from muscular dystrophy, Daniel is a biochemical engineer. Meriam is a doctor.
Sekulow urged “President Obama” to act to have Meriam released, but neither Obama nor his wife Michelle has uttered a word about the case. Neither has the Obama regime taken definitive action to pressure Iran to release Pastor Saeed Abedini, also an American citizen who has been beaten repeatedly and kept in the infamous Evin Prison while his wife and two small children remain in the U.S.
Iran said on Sunday that it intends to “destroy America.” Many believe that Obama intends the same.
On Friday, a State Department spokeswoman said of Abedini, “We remain concerned about the health and welfare of U.S.-Iranian citizen Saeed Abedini, sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran on charges related to his religious beliefs, especially given reports of mistreatment during his recent transfer from a private hospital back to Rajai Shahr prison. We repeat our request for Iran to permit Mr. Abedini to receive any necessary medical treatment and to grant Swiss officials, who serve as our protecting power, consular access to determine his wellbeing. We again call on Iran to release Mr. Abedini so that he may be reunited with his family.”
On May 15 of Meriam’s plight, the same spokesperson said:
We are deeply disturbed over the sentencing today of Meriam Yahya Ibrahim Ishag to death by hanging for apostasy. We are also deeply concerned by the flogging sentence for adultery. We understand that the court sentence can be appealed.
We continue to call upon the Government of Sudan to respect the right to freedom of religion, a right which is enshrined in Sudan’s own 2005 Interim Constitution as well as international human rights law.
We call on the Sudanese legal authorities to approach this case with the compassion that is in keeping with the values of the Sudanese people.
The Sudanese embassy admits that Meriam’s family charged her with apostasy.
“We have a 20-month-old American child in prison,” Sekulow exclaimed, horrified, during his broadcast.
Last week, New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt wrote a letter to putative Secretary of State John Kerry asking that Meriam be granted political asylum. Others in both the House of Representatives and Senate have begun to speak out.
The Wanis are from South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan in 2011, depriving it of vast oil revenues. Sekulow stated that the persecution of Christians in the south by Sudanese dictator Omar Al-Bashir is undoubtedly a factor in the case.
Bashir has been charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) with crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide for atrocities committed during the war with South Sudan.
Daniel’s brother, Gabriel, said that “Meriam is in a bad condition, she is eight months pregnant. She needs proper medical attention and she needs medical supplies. She’s bleeding and nothing is being done.”
Women in Islam are considered less than human and are often mistreated, denigrated, tortured, murdered by “honor killings,” subjected to public hangings, and often forcibly married when they are children. They have virtually no rights, cannot vote or leave the house without a male relative.
Sudan says that “Meriam Ibrahim” is not the woman’s real name. “This case remains a legal issue and not a religious or a political one. It is unwise and dangerous to politicize the issue at hand to spur religious tension between the two peaceful faiths with similar foundations. Notably, It is important to emphasize that freedom of choice is the cornerstone of both Islam and Christianity,” says the embassy.
Its final statement on the matter reads:
While reaffirming the commitment of the Government of Sudan to all human rights and freedom of beliefs, the Embassy of Sudan in Washington DC would like to thank all those who have raised their concern and sympathy on this issue.
On Sunday evening, The Post & Email sent the following message through the embassy’s contact form:
Whether the case of Meriam is a “legal” one or not, you are holding a pregnant woman and her toddler child in horrendous conditions which prove that Islam is not a religion of peace, as you would have Americans think. The child is sick and could die, and one news report says that Meriam is medically very unstable. The prison diet she has been given surely cannot be sustaining her and her unborn child properly.
Meriam is married to a U.S. citizen and her son is a U.S. citizen. You must release them at once. There is no such thing as “apostasy;” if you are going to maintain an embassy in the United States, then you have to abide by our laws which allow freedom of religion. Although Obama has tried to silence Christians here as well and favor Islam and Muslims, we are Americans and will not tolerate it.
Without proper medical care, both Meriam and Martin could die, which will show just how barbaric you are.
Your punishments are unthinkable and your treatment of American citizens cruel and inhuman. If anyone other than Obama were in the White House, this atrocity would never have been allowed to go on for four months.
Release Meriam and Martin now!!
A petition sponsored by the BeHeardProject of the ACLJ is here. Amnesty International’s petition for Meriam is here.
A petition for Abedini’s release is here and as of this writing, contains more than 650,000 signatures. Messages to the Sudanese embassy can also be sent via Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
Sekulow also urged his listeners to call the U.S. State Department to demand the release of Meriam and Martin Wani.
On the Sudanese embassy’s website, a link indicating that “Sudan [is] on the road to peace, democracy, unity, prosperity” leads to a “Page Not Found” error message.
