ICC Note:

Morning Star News is reviewing the top persecution stories from 2014. At the top of the list is Meriam Ibrahim, a Christian mother who, while pregnant with her second child, was imprisoned and sentenced to death for apostasy, or the “crime” of converting from Islam. ICC worked extensively on Meriam’s case, who was ultimately set free, acquitted of all charges, and relocated to the United States, where she and her family now reside in peace.

01/13/2014 Sudan (Morning Star News) – As Christians in Sudan have before and since, 27-year-old Meriam Yahia Ibrahim languished in a dark prison of obscurity under charges of leaving Islam. After Islamists claiming to be relatives accused her of apostasy, resulting in a death sentence for the then-eight months pregnant woman who had never practiced Islam, a judge told her she would be freed if she renounced Christianity. She refused – risking not only becoming the first woman to be hung for apostasy in Sudan, but receiving 100 lashes for “infidelity” for having had children with a Christian, as the trumped-up apostasy scenario rendered her marriage invalid and was therefore considered “adultery” under Islamic jurisprudence. Her 20-month-old son and yet unborn daughter would become wards of the state and be raised as Muslims.

Ibrahim refused to recant her faith on May 15. A groundswell of support had risen after Morning Star News broke the story of false charges against her on April 18, setting off a firestorm of international protests by Western embassies, legal and aid agencies and media. She gave birth in prison, her legs in shackles, on May 27. Ibrahim was released from prison on June 23, only to be detained at the Khartoum airport less than 24 hours later. More than 40 agents from Sudan’s notoriously Islamist National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) arrested her, and she was charged with “forging” travel documents, punishable by nearly seven years in prison.

Ibrahim was released awaiting trial on June 26, and she and her family took refuge at the U.S. embassy in Khartoum. The wan “forgery” charge wilted under additional international pressure, and after the government dropped charges against her on July 23, the next day she and her family were allowed to leave the country.

Ibrahim’s attainment of freedom was the lone bright spot in a country that accelerated its jailing of Christians, destruction of churches and, in the Nuba Mountains, bombing of Christian civilians in 2014. In Open Doors’ annual survey of countries where persecution is most severe, Sudan jumped from 11th place in 2013 to 6th last year.

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