Sudan’s National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) has
questioned the mental status of a Christian woman accused of apostasy amid
reports that a presidential decree to pardon her will be issued during the
week. The head of the woman committee at the NCHR, Meriam Takas, revealed that
they formed a committee to follow up on the case, noting that the woman’s name
was neither found on the records of the University of Sudan nor Sudan’s
examinations commission. On May 15, a Khartoum court sentenced 27-year-old
Meriam Yehya Ibrahim to death by hanging for apostasy after she refused to
recant her faith and revert to Islam. Takas said she met with Ibrahim several
times in prison, asserting that the case should have been dismissed in the
early stages due to suspicions relating to her family lineage and mental
capacity. She also pointed to the weakness of Ibrahim’s defense team, adding
that investigation procedures have not been properly conducted. Takas said the
case has three dimensions including the humanitarian one because Ibrahim is a
breast-feeding mother of two children, international pressure and the
intellectual dimension regarding the issue of apostasy in Islam. The sentence
has sparked international condemnation, with United States senators urging
secretary John Kerry to personally intervene on Ibrahim’s behalf and offer her
political asylum. The United Nations human rights experts described the
conviction as “outrageous”, saying the right to marry and start a family was a
fundamental human right. On Sunday, the UK Prime Minister David Cameron told The
Times that he was “absolutely appalled” when he learnt of the death
sentence against Ibrahim and called for lifting the "barbaric"
verdict. “Religious freedom is an absolute, fundamental human right. I urge the
government of Sudan to overturn the sentence and immediately provide
appropriate support and medical care for her and her children. The UK will
continue to press the government of Sudan to act," Cameron pledged. Former
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton joined the chorus of world officials
condemning the sentence.
"Meriam Yahya Ibrahim’s death sentence is abhorrent,"
Clinton wrote on Twitter. "Sudan should stop threatening religious freedom
and fundamental human rights". The US disclosed that is closely working to
convince Khartoum to release Ibrahim. “Through the US embassy in Khartoum, the
White House and the state department, we have communicated our strong concern
at high levels of the Sudanese government about this case,” State Department
spokeswoman Nicole Thompson wrote in an email to FoxNews.com. “We
have heard from many, many Americans that they are deeply alarmed by
[Ibrahim’s] plight. We have conveyed these views to the Government of Sudan”
Thompson said. Last Saturday, Sudan’s foreign ministry undersecretary, Abdallah
Alazrag, told Agence France Presse (AFP) that the woman
will be freed within days in line with legal procedure that will be taken by
the judiciary and the ministry of justice. But the Sudanese foreign ministry on
Sunday refuted Alazrag’s statements, saying he did not make any statement
regarding release of Ibrahim during the coming period. Al-Araby al-Gadeed newspaper
on Monday quoted sources within the presidential palace in Khartoum as saying
that a presidential decree to pardon Ibrahim will be issued during this week
according to powers granted to the president in the criminal code. Identical
sources also affirmed that Ibrahim will immediately be transferred along with
her husband and children to live in Washington. Ibrahim, who is in custody with
her 20-month-old son, gave birth last week to a baby girl in prison.
Source (ST)
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