British parliamentarians are calling on all people of good will to sign an online petition to spare the life of a Sudanese wife and mother, sentenced to death for converting from Islam to Christianity.
The parliamentarians, who include Baroness Cox and Lord Alton, have signed the petition and are urging others to do the same. The petition calls on Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir to save the life of Meriam Ibrahim, a pregnant 26-year-old Sudanese woman.
At a court hearing in the Sudan’s capital Khartoum on 15 May, Meriam refused to renounce her Christian religion, resulting in the judges sentencing her to death by hanging for ‘apostasy’. She has also been sentenced to 100 lashes for being married to a Christian man and is currently imprisoned with her 20-month-old son at Omdurman Women’s Prison near Khartoum.
The date for Meriam’s execution has yet to be announced.
Meriam was first arrested in August last year because her husband is Christian. Under Sudan’s Sharia law, marriage between a Muslim woman and a non-Muslim man is illegal, and constitutes adultery.
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On the NET:
The online petition: President of Sudan, Omar Al-Bashir: Save Mariam Yahya
A further petition, by Amnesty International, can be found here
