A Sudanese woman awaiting the death penalty for abandoning her religious faith has given birth in jail near the capital, Khartoum, her lawyer has said.<\/p>\n
Meriam Yehya Ibrahim Ishag married a Christian man and was sentenced to hang for apostasy earlier this month after refusing to renounce Christianity.<\/p>\n
She is allowed to nurse her baby girl for two years before the sentence is carried out.<\/p>\n
Born to a Muslim father, she was convicted by a Sharia court.<\/p>\n
Sudan has a majority Muslim population, which is governed by Islamic law.<\/p>\n
Hundred lashes<\/b><\/p>\n
Ms Ibrahim was also 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
For this the judge sentenced her to 100 lashes, which will reportedly be carried out when she has recovered from giving birth.<\/p>\n
Ms Ibrahim was raised as an Orthodox Christian, her mother’s religion, because her father, a Muslim, was reportedly absent during her childhood.<\/p>\n
According to Amnesty International, she 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.<\/p>\n
Lawyer Elshareef Ali said his 27-year-old client had given birth to a baby girl in the early hours of Tuesday morning in a hospital wing at the prison.<\/p>\n
She also has her 20-month-old son with her as he has been held with her in prison since late February, he said.<\/p>\n
Correspondents say death sentences are rarely carried out in Sudan.<\/p>\n
Ms Ibrahim’s legal team lodged an appeal on 22 May as Mr Ali says the verdict contravenes the constitution’s enshrining of freedom of faith, the Bloomberg news agency reports.<\/p>\n
Western embassies and rights groups have urged Sudan to respect the right of the woman to choose her religion.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Sudanese woman awaiting the death penalty for abandoning her religious faith has given birth in jail near the capital, Khartoum, her lawyer has said. Meriam Yehya Ibrahim Ishag married a Christian man and was sentenced to hang for apostasy earlier this month after refusing to renounce Christianity. She is allowed to nurse her baby […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":21056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[14],"yoast_head":"\n