Meriam Ibrahim Freed Again After Being Detained for Several Hours Trying to Leave Sudan

International   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jun 24, 2014   |   9:17PM   |   Washington, DC

Meriam Ibrahim, the Christian woman who was jailed and forced to give birth in prison in the Muslim nation of Sudan and who was released yesterday after a court overturned a verdict of apostasy, was freed again after she was re-arrested trying to leave the country.

The BBC has more details on the re-release after the several hour detention:

A Sudanese woman freed from death row on Monday has been released again after being briefly detained with her family at Khartoum airport.

Meriam Ibrahim was sentenced in May to hang for renouncing Islam, sparking widespread outrage at home and abroad.

“They were temporarily detained for several hours over questions related to their documents,” Marie Harf, a spokeswoman for the US state department, told journalists.

CNN has more details on what initially happened to Ibrahim Tuesday morning and she and her husband and newborn daughter Mara attempted to leave the country:

sudan5A Sudanese woman whose death sentence for refusing to renounce her Christian faith was revoked has been rearrested, her legal team told CNN Tuesday.

Meriam Ibrahim, 27, and her husband, Daniel Wani, were arrested Tuesday at an airport in Sudan’s capital as they were trying to leave the African country, Ibrahim’s legal team said.

Details about why the couple were arrested weren’t immediately available.

Ibrahim, 27, was convicted in May by a Sudanese court on charges of apostasy, or the renunciation of faith, and adultery — charges that led to international controversy. Ibrahim was eight months pregnant when she was sentenced to suffer 100 lashes and then be hanged.

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But an appeals court in Sudan this month ruled that a lower court’s judgment against her was faulty, and she was released, according to her lawyer.

Reuters confirmed the reports, indicating: “Sudanese authorities re-arrested a Sudanese woman on Tuesday hours after she was freed from death row, and detained her husband and two children as the family tried to board a plane in Khartoum, a security source said. The official did not comment on the reasons for Tuesday’s re-arrest.

The Daily Mail reports that 40 security agents took the family of four into custody:

The couple were detained by around 40 security agents with their two children, Maya, one month, and Martin, 21 months.

Meriam’s lawyer, Shareif Ali Shareif, told MailOnline: ‘Meriam Ibrahim and Daniel Wani were arrested at the airport two hours ago [about 1230GMT).

‘They are now in the detention of the National Security forces. The family were trying to leave Sudan for a safe place. The children were with them. The children are with Meriam. They were arrested as well.

‘We don’t have any information about what charges they face. But the National Security force does not have to take them to court. This is not a criminal matter, it a national security matter.’

Meriam’s attorney talked with The Guardian newspaper:

“It’s very disappointing,” Elshareef told the Guardian. “They were very angry. They took us [the family’s lawyers] outside, and took the family to a NISS detention centre. They have not been given access to lawyers.”

He said the appeal court had quashed Ibrahim’s convictions and there were no restrictions on her travelling. He added that political differences within the government over the case may have played a part in the decision to prevent her leaving.

“I’m very concerned. When people do not respect the court, they might do anything,” said Elshareef.

Reports yesterday indicated the Sudan court has reversed itself and would free Ibraham, who was forced to give birth in chains in a Sudanese prison as she awaited a death sentence ad brutal flogging by Muslim officials.

“The appeal court ordered the release of Mariam Yahya [Ibrahim] and the cancellation of the [previous] court ruling,” Sudan’s SUNA news agency said on Monday. The London Daily Mail, late Monday, posted a picture of her out of prison with her family.

Ibrahim, 26, joined the Catholic Church shortly before she married U.S. citizen Daniel Bicensio Wani in December 2011.

Ibrahim was not sentenced to die for her Christian faith for two years, until such a time as her newborn baby girl Maya is weaned, but she could have been flogged within days if her appeal of her death sentence was thrown out. LifeNews recently covered the terrible nature of the flogging she would have had to endure and how it would have literally take her skin off of her body.