Hours after a Sudanese court sentenced his pregnant wife to death when she refused to recant her Christian faith, her husband told CNN he feels helpless. "I'm so frustrated. I don't know what to do," Daniel Wani told CNN on Thursday. "I'm just praying." This week a Khartoum court convicted his wife, Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, 27, of apostasy, or the renunciation of faith.


Refused to renounce Christianity, court sentenced pregnant Sudanese woman to death

Meriam is Christian, her husband said. But the court considers her to be Muslim. The court also convicted her of adultery and sentenced her to 100 lashes because under Sharia law she cannot have sex with a Christian man. The court gave her until Thursday to recant her Christian faith - something she refused to do, according to her lawyer. So the penalty is death. "We gave you three days to recant but you insist on not returning to Islam. I sentence you to be hanged to death," the judge told the woman, according to Al Jazeera.

During Thursday's sentencing hearing, a sheikh told the court "how dangerous a crime like this is to Islam and the Islamic community," said attorney Mohamed Jar Elnabi, who's representing Meriam. "I am a Christian," Meriam fired back, "and I will remain a Christian." Her legal team says it plans to appeal the verdict, which drew swift condemnation from human rights organizations around the world.

In the meantime, Meriam, who is eight months' pregnant, remains in prison together with her 20-month-old son. "She is very strong and very firm. She is very clear that she is a Christian and that she will get out one day," Elnabi told CNN from Sudan. Meriam was born to a Sudanese Muslim father and an Ethiopian Orthodox mother. Her father left when she was 6 years old, and Meriam was raised by her mother as a Christian. Sudan implemented full Sharia in 2011 after the secession of South Sudan.


Death sentence for a female doctor due to her religion

However, because her father was Muslim, the courts considered her to be the same, which would mean her marriage to a non-Muslim man is void. The case, her lawyer said, started after Meriam's brother filed a complaint against her, alleging that she had gone missing for several years and that her family was shocked to find she had married a Christian man.

The court's ruling leaves a family divided, with Meriam behind bars and her husband struggling to survive, Elnabi said. Police blocked Daniel from entering the courtroom on Thursday, Elnabi said. Lawyers appealed to the judge, but he refused. Daniel is handicapped and use a wheelchair and "totally depends on her for all details of his life," Elnabi said. "He cannot live without her," said the lawyer.

The couple's son is having a difficult time in prison. "He is very affected from being trapped inside a prison from such a young age," Elnabi said. "He is always getting sick due to lack of hygiene and bugs." Meriam is having a difficult pregnancy, the lawyer said. A request to send her to a private hospital was denied "due to security measures."


Sudan's court gives an additional 100 whips for having sex with someone from another religion

Amnesty International describes Meriam as a prisoner of conscience. "The fact that a woman could be sentenced to death for her religious choice, and to flogging for being married to a man of an allegedly different religion, is abhorrent and should never be even considered," Manar Idriss, Amnesty International's Sudan researcher, said in a statement. "Meriam has been convicted solely on account of her religious convictions and personal status," she added.

Sudan imposes Sharia law on Muslims and non-Muslims alike and punishes acts of "indecency" and "immorality" by floggings and amputations. The lawyer, Elnabi, says he got a death threat a day before the controversial court hearing, with an anonymous caller telling him to pull out of representing Meriam or risk attack. "I feel very scared," he said. "Since yesterday, I live in fear if I just hear a door open or a strange sound in the street."

Still, the lawyer said he'll continue representing Meriam. "I could never leave the case. This is a matter of belief and principles," he said. "I must help someone who is in need, even if it will cost me my life." Meriam is doctor. She is married to Daniel Wani, who sits on a wheelchair and has been taking care of his life inconveniences.


SOS:

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/15/world/af...woman-apostasy/

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/suda...ticle-1.1793562

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/pregnant...postasy-n105961

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article51018

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/05/15/pr...h-for-apostasy/

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27424064

http://time.com/100884/sudanese-woman-sent...h-for-apostasy/