Pregnant Sudanese woman sentenced to death for not recanting her Christian faith
Thinkstock


Meriam Ibrahim is married, eight months pregnant, and the mother of an 18-month-old; on Thursday she was sentenced to death in Sudan.
Her lawyer, Al-Shareef Ali al-Shareef Mohammed, told The Associated Press that Ibrahim, 26, was convicted Sunday of "apostasy" for not recanting her Christian faith. In Sudan, the conversion of Muslims to other religions is punishable by death. Ibrahim's father was Muslim, but her mother — who raised her alone after her father left the family — was an Orthodox Christian from Ethiopia. Members of Ibrahim's father's family told authorities that she was born Muslim and given the name "Afdal" at birth; her lawyer says the document they produced to try to prove this is fake.
Ibrahim was given four days to renounce her religion, but refused. "I was never a Muslim," she said, according to the AP. "I was raised a Christian from the start."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The U.S. State Department is "deeply disturbed" by the sentencing, while Amnesty International calls it "abhorrent." Mohammed said the trial was flawed, and the judge refused to hear defense witnesses and ignored constitutional clauses on freedom of worship and equality. The judge also sentenced Ibrahim to 100 lashes for having sexual relations with her Christian husband, Daniel Wani, on the grounds that Muslim women are not allowed to marry non-Muslims.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to Trump
Speed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raids
Speed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raid
Speed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'
Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearing
Speed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mount
Speed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own list
speed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battle
Speed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants