A Sudanese court has sentenced a woman to hang for apostasy – the abandonment of her religious faith – after she married a Christian man.<\/p>\n
Amnesty International condemned the sentence, handed down by a judge in Khartoum, as “appalling and abhorrent”.<\/p>\n
Local media report the sentence on the woman, who is pregnant, would not be carried out for two years after she had given birth.<\/p>\n
Sudan has a majority Muslim population, which is governed by Islamic law.<\/p>\n
“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, AFP reports.<\/p>\n
Western embassies and rights groups had urged Sudan to respect the right of the pregnant woman to choose her religion.<\/p>\n
The judge also sentenced the woman to 100 lashes after convicting her of adultery – because her marriage to a Christian man was not valid under Islamic law.<\/p>\n
This will reportedly be carried out when she has recovered from giving birth.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the hearing, an Islamic cleric spoke with her in a caged dock for about 30 minutes, AFP reports.<\/p>\n
Then she calmly told the judge: “I am a Christian and I never committed apostasy.”<\/p>\n
Rival protesters<\/p>\n
Amnesty International said the woman, Meriam Yehya Ibrahim Ishag, was raised as an Orthodox Christian, her mother’s religion, because her father, a Muslim, was reportedly absent during her childhood.<\/p>\n
In court, the judge addressed her by her Muslim name, Adraf Al-Hadi Mohammed Abdullah.<\/p>\n
She was convicted of adultery on the grounds that her marriage to a Christian man from South Sudan was void under Sudan’s version of Islamic law, which says Muslim women cannot marry non-Muslims.<\/p>\n
The woman was originally sentenced to death on Sunday but given until Thursday to return to Islam.<\/p>\n
There were small groups of protesters outside the court – both her supporters and those who back the punishment.<\/p>\n
About 50 people chanting “No to executing Meriam” were confronted by a smaller group who supported the verdict, but there was no violence.<\/p>\n
Amnesty’s Sudan researcher Manar Idriss condemned the punishments, saying apostasy and adultery should not be considered crimes.<\/p>\n
“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,” he said.<\/p>\n
The BBC’s Osman Mohamed, in Khartoum, says death sentences are rarely carried out in Sudan.<\/p>\n
Her lawyers plan an appeal to a higher court to get the sentence overturned.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, the embassies of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands issued a joint statement expressing “deep concern” about the case and urging Sudan to respect the right to freedom of religion, AFP says.<\/p>\n
The woman was arrested and charged with adultery in August 2013, and the court added the charge of apostasy in February 2014 when she said she was a Christian and not a Muslim, Amnesty said.<\/p>\n
The group called for her immediate release.<\/p>\n
She is said to be eight months’ pregnant.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Sudanese court has sentenced a woman to hang for apostasy – the abandonment of her religious faith – after she married a Christian man. Amnesty International condemned the sentence, handed down by a judge in Khartoum, as “appalling and abhorrent”. Local media report the sentence on the woman, who is pregnant, would not be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":18931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[703,14,515,7,684],"yoast_head":"\n