The Sudanese mother condemned to die for calling herself a Christian has been released from government custody again.
Meriam Ibrahim and her family have been on a emotional roller coaster this week. She and her two babies were held captive by Sudan’s Islamic government for over a month.
Then on Monday, her death sentence was overturned and she was released.
But as she and her American husband tried to leave Sudan Tuesday, they were detained for several hours, leading to new fears that she’d been re-arrested.
“She was seized at the airport by the National Intelligence and Security Services of Sudan who do not answer to criminal courts—they are outside the judicial system,” Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice, said.
Marie Harf, a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, says the Sudanese government has assured the U.S. that the family has now been released again. Harf said U.S. officials are continuing to work on getting them out of the country.
“We’ve been through this too many times in these cases of persecution in countries that are similar to Sudan when people are released, but that’s not the end of the story; they’re not safe yet,” Sekulow said.
The 27-year-old Ibrahim was originally sentenced to 100 lashes and execution by hanging because the government says her father was a Muslim. Therefore, under Islamic law known as Sharia, she’s not allowed to become a Christian, even though she contends she was never a Muslim in the first place.
Ibrahim, who was jailed along with her toddler son, was forced to give birth to her second child, a daughter, while in prison.
