A 27-year old  Sudanese woman has been sentenced to death for converting to Christianity according to Sudanese court. Mariam Yahya Ibrahim is eight-month pregnant and has been accused of apostasy (abandonment or renunciation of a religion) and adultery for marrying a Christian man. Sudanese justice ordered that she will receive 100 lashes and will be executed after her child’s birth. Nevertheless, she hardly tried to explain that she was raised as a Christian, her mum’s religion while her father who was a Muslim abandoned her and her mother. Sudan government has a very oppressive regime, anyone cannot change of religion and if they do so, then they will be sentenced to death. That is the first time in Sudan history that such a story happens !

“The fact that a woman has been sentenced to death for her religious choice, and to flogging for being married to a man of an allegedly different religion is appalling and abhorrent. Adultery and apostasy are acts which should not be considered crimes at all. It is flagrant breach of international human rights law,” said Amnesty International’s Sudan researcher Manar Idriss.

“Amnesty International believes that Meriam is a prisoner of conscience, convicted solely because of her religious beliefs and identity, and must be released immediately and unconditionally. The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, which includes the freedom to hold beliefs, is far-reaching and profound; it encompasses freedom of thought on all matters, personal conviction and the commitment to religion or belief.” 

(Source : Amnesty International)

Update: End of May 2014, Mariam gave birth to her girl in prison and was release on June 24th, 2014 on the order of a Sudanese appeal court. She took refuge with her family in the US embassy in Sudan and left her native country to Rome on July 24th. Today she lives with her family in the United States.