Pregnant Sudanese Woman Facing Death Sentence for Marrying Christian May Give Birth in Prison

Last week, BN reported that a 27-year-old Sudanese woman who is over eight months pregnant with her second child, has been charged with apostasy (deserting religion) and adultery for marrying a Christian man.

The woman, Mariam Yahya Ibrahim is currently imprisoned with her 20-month-old son, and has been asked to abandon her Christian faith and return to Islam, or face a death sentence.

Her husband, Daniel Wani, is expressing grave concern about the welfare of his imprisoned wife, as she is due to give birth soon, Al Jazeera reports.  Because he is a Christian, he is not allowed to take care of their child, Martin. As a result, the child has remained with Ibrahim in prison.

“Martin [my son] and my wife, they are all in prison and she is pregnant – she could give birth at any time, from today to 1st of June, she may give birth. I am afraid that being in prison is dangerous for her so if they would allow me to take her to the hospital that she delivered Martin in – even if it was under the watch of security guards, I would be thankful,” he says. 

Because their marriage was considered illegal, it was revoked by the Sudanese government. As a result, Wani plans to appeal the death sentence as an independent party to the case, since he is no loner considered to be Ibrahim’s husband.

The revoking of this marriage means that my son is no longer my son and the one coming is not my son too, will not be my son – so this innocence means nothing and I will appeal for myself and I will appeal for my wife,” Wani says.

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