Sudanese woman condemned to death gave birth 'in chains'

 
       

  
  
   
       Credits:    Photo take from Twitter     Alt Text:    Meriam Ibrahim, sentenced to death for apostasy      

  
 
      
     Meriam Ibrahim, sentenced to hang for marrying a Christian, gave birth in prison     
 
        One-Minute Read  
    
    Friday, May 30, 2014 - 9:19am  
      A Sudanese woman sentenced to hang for renouncing Islam by marrying a Christian, gave birth while shackled to the floor of her cell, it emerged yesterday. 
 The Omdurman Women’s Prison, near Khartoum, refused to allow Meriam Ibrahim, 27, to go to hospital after she went into labour. Her child, named Maya, will be kept with Ibrahim until the age of two. Ibrahim will then be executed and Maya will be put in the care of her father, Daniel Wani. 
 Wani, 27, who is in a wheelchair due to muscular dystrophy, has said he does not know how he will be able to look after his daughter. 
 He told the  Daily Telegraph  that his wife gave birth on Tuesday with her legs shackled. "They kept a chain on her legs," he said. "She is very unhappy about that". 
 Last night "outrage was growing around the world",  The Times  reports. "What’s happening to Meriam, it's like an incident out of the dark ages," said Hala al-Karib, the Sudanese director of Siha, a women’s rights group. "Meriam should be released immediately and the charges against her should be dropped," Ms al-Karib added. 
 Ibrahim's lawyer Mohaned Mustafa Elnour described the parents as "happy and proud", but said that they remain aware of the gravity of their situation. "The family are taking some time to enjoy the birth before they return to fighting the injustice of Meriam's sentence," Elnour said. 
 Ibrahim was sentenced to 100 lashes for adultery and death by hanging for apostasy – the crime of renouncing her faith. Ibrahim disputes the charge, saying that she has always been Christian. But the judge rejected her claim, finding instead that she had grown up a Muslim because of the faith of her father and was therefore guilty because she married someone not of her religion. 
 The ruling invalidates her marriage, meaning that she is also guilty of sex outside of wedlock, which is regarded as adultery under Sudan’s penal code. 
 An  Amnesty International  petition calling for Ibrahim's death sentence to be overturned had last week attracted more than 660,000 signatures.  ·   
       Africa        Sudan    Death penalty