Sudanese Mother Meriam Ibrahim 'Should Be Executed' for Christian Faith, Brother Says
The Christian mother in Sudan who is currently facing the death penalty for her faith "should be executed," her brother said in a recent interview.
Al Samani Al Hadi Mohamed Abdullah, brother to 27-year-old Meriam Ibrahim, said in a recent interview that he turned his Christian sister in to the authorities because his family are "Muslim people" who "will not deny Islamic law."
"It's one of two; if she repents and returns to our Islamic faith and to the embrace of our family then we are her family and she is ours," he told CNN. "But if she refuses she should be executed."
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Abdullah and the rest of Ibrahim's family claim their 27-year-old relative's original name was Abrar Al Hadi, but changed her name to Meriam Ibrahim after disappearing for several years. The brother added to The Telegraph that he believes her Christian husband, Daniel Wani, drugged Ibrahim and convinced her to renounce her Muslim faith.
Abdullah told the media outlet that ultimately, the laws of the Islamic faith must prevail.
"If she dies we will have enforced God's word. The solution is that she is executed. As we have been ordered by our Prophet, peace be upon him: 'He who barters his religion you must kill."
"The world should not involve itself in our family affairs. This is a family and these are our private affairs. We don't want outside involvement," Abdullah added.
In May, Ibrahim was sentenced to 100 lashes and death by hanging after she was found guilty in Sudanese court of apostasy and adultery, being accused by her family of converting from Islam to Christianity and then marrying a Christian man, who is also a U.S. citizen.
Ibrahim argues that she is innocent, saying she was raised Christian by her mother, an Ethiopian Orthodox, and therefore never renounced Islam. She also argues that she is innocent of adultery because she was Christian before she met her husband.
Ibrahim's case has drawn international condemnation from Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Great Britain's former Prime Minister Tony Blair and current Prime Minister David Cameron, as well as former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The 27-year-old prisoner was recently forced to give birth to her second child, Maya, while in prison, and she is now accompanied by her two children behind bars.
Sudan's foreign affairs office has given mixed messages on Ibrahim's faith, with the foreign ministry office initially saying Ibrahim was likely to be freed, and then a day later saying that ultimately her faith was left up to the courts, which have already sentenced her to death.
The Christian prisoner's lawyers have appealed the court's ruling and have also appealed their case to the African Commission on Human Rights.
