WILL THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY ALLOW THIS WOMAN TO BE MURDERED? WILL YOU?
by Sharon Rondeau
(May 28, 2014) — The case of a Sudanese woman married to a naturalized American citizen sentenced to flogging and death for adhering to her Christian faith has inspired outrage and condemnation throughout the world.
Dr. Meriam Ibrahim Wani was sentenced on May 15 to 100 lashes for “adultery,” for which she was found guilty because she married a Christian man, Daniel Wani, who became a U.S. citizen in 2005.
Upon sentencing, Meriam was eight months’ pregnant with her second child. Her firstborn, Martin, has been in prison with her since February, and both are reported to have been intermittently ill from the poor conditions and lack of fresh air.
An additional sentence of death by hanging was handed down after Meriam refused to recant her Christianity and publicly “revert” to Islam. While Meriam’s father was Muslim, he departed the family when she was six, and her Christian mother raised Meriam in her faith. Nevertheless, the Islamic Sudanese court declared Meriam an apostate for refusing to follow her father’s faith despite never having been raised in it.
The Sudanese embassy in Washington, DC insists that Meriam’s case is “a legal one,” and not “political” or “religious.” Reportedly, the Sudanese constitution calls for freedom of religion and respect for civil rights, and the international community has exhibited shock and anger at Meriam’s declared fate.
On Tuesday, without medical assistance, Meriam gave birth to a daughter, Maya, in prison.
Various news sites have acknowledged that Meriam’s children are U.S. citizens pending verification that their father was naturalized. Daniel has said that he petitioned the U.S. embassy in Khartoum to work to release his pregnant wife and child in February, when they were jailed. Meriam was reportedly chained to the floor in her cell as she cared for her 20-month-old son and waited to deliver her baby.
A petition has been launched at whitehouse.gov to free Meriam and her children which is gaining 400 signatures every few minutes as of this writing. A total of 100,000 signatures is needed within the next 30 days for the regime to consider taking action, but the Family Research Council has stated that now that Meriam has given birth, the first punishment of 100 lashes could be carried out at any time.
“Meriam Ibrahim may not be a United States citizen, but she seems to know more about courage than the administration leading them. Three times, the Sudanese mother of two was asked to deny her faith — and three times she refused. Now, she and her toddler American son and newborn American daughter lie in a bug-infested prison cell — a victim of the real war on women this President refuses to acknowledge,” Perkins wrote in a newsletter on Wednesday.
An FRC press release on Wednesday stated that some members of Congress have begun to take action since the Obama regime to date has not. FRC’s Tony Perkins reported:
At this time of year in Sudan, the U.N. has warned in the past that infant mortality rates in prison are as high as one child per day. The urgency of the situation can’t be overstated. Under Franks’s bill, Congress is condemning the charges against Meriam, calling for the family’s “immediate and unconditional release,” urging the Departments of State and Homeland Security to grant asylum or refugee status, and encouraging the efforts by the U.S. government to support religious liberty in Sudan.
The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) said on Wednesday:
Meriam Ibrahim just gave birth to her American baby in a Sudanese prison.
Meriam has been shackled to her cell awaiting her sentence: flogging for marrying a Christian American and then execution by hanging for being a Christian.
This fundamental abuse of human rights is unthinkable. Now, she, her 20-month-old American son, Martin, and her newborn American girl languish in prison.
The situation for this Christian woman and her two American children could not be more dire.
We’re working with Members of Congress and at the U.N., engaging our global resources to fight for their freedom.
We can’t let this woman be executed for her faith. We can’t allow her American children to be turned over to be raised by radical Islamists.
We can’t be silent. We must be heard. They must be released.
Other petitions to save Meriam and her children are here, here, here, and here.
The Daily Mail Online, with which The Post & Email took issue earlier on Wednesday, published a photo of Daniel Wani visiting his new baby daughter and son in the primitive prison where they are being kept. Daniel, who suffers from muscular dystrophy, looks appreciably thinner and older than in his wedding photos from late 2011, when he and Meriam were married at a Christian church in Khartoum.
Daniel had been attempting to obtain visas for his wife and son to accompany him to New Hampshire, where he is working and living, when Meriam’s brother reported her to authorities for “adultery” because of her unrecognized marriage by Sharia law, which governs Sudan.