Ted Cruz to President Obama: Demand the Release of Meriam Ibrahim

International   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jun 20, 2014   |   10:30AM   |   Washington, DC

Senator Ted Cruz delivered a message to President Barack Obama yesterday during his speech at the Road to Majority Conference Thursday afternoon: demand the release of Meriam Ibraham. His speech follows on the heels of a large rally outside the White House that he and pro-life groups led.

Meriam is the Christian woman who was jailed when she was pregnant and was forced to give birth in chains in a Sudanese prison as she awaits a death sentence ad brutal flogging by Muslim officials because of her Christian faith.

The Daily Caller has more:

Processed with VSCOcam with c1 presetCruz also made a call for the president to stand up and demand the release of Meriam Ibrahim, the wife of an American citizen who was sentenced to 100 lashes and hanging for refusing to deny Christ.

“And then you look to another example. The example of Meriam Ibrahim,” Cruz said. “Meriam Ibrahim is someone every elected official, every American should be speaking out. Meriam Ibrahim is a young woman. She’s a wife. She’s a mother, and she is in prison in Sudan for the crime of being a Christian.”

“Every one of us needs to be lifting Meriam Ibrahim in prayer, but every bit as important, we need leadership,” Cruz continued. “The president of the United States should stand up and speak on Meriam Ibrahim.”

Ibrahim, 26, joined the Catholic Church shortly before she married U.S. citizen Daniel Bicensio Wani in December 2011. Because of that, Catholic Church officials are also speaking up on her behalf.

SIGN THE PETITION! Save Meriam Ibrahim, Don’t Hang her to Death for Her Faith

The Archdiocese of Khartoum has urged the judiciary in Sudan to review her case and overturn the death sentence.

“There are many people trying to persuade Meriam to renounce Christianity in order to be freed, but she is refusing. Some people are pleading with her husband to convince her to abandon Christian faith in order to save her life, but to no avail,” the archdiocese said.

“The Catholic Church — Archdiocese of Khartoum — expresses deep regret over the way the case is being handled in the court,” with disregard of “Meriam’s moral and religious beliefs,” it said.

“We are pleading with the judiciary and other concerned authorities to review the case … and to bring it to a reasonable end,” it said.

Meriam Ibrahim is 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 be flogged within days if her appeal of her death sentence is thrown out. LifeNews recently covered the terrible nature of the flogging she will have to endure and how it will literally take her skin off of her body.

Meriam’s case has drawn international outrage. Meriam was jailed in September despite the fact she was pregnant, because she married a Christian – when authorities claim she is Muslim. Sudanese leaders suggested she may be freed weeks ago as international outrage grew – but there is still no sign of her release. She was forced to give birth to daughter, Maya, in prison, shackled to bed.

Now, human rights advocates have released a video of another woman flogged in public to highlight her case. In the video, dated 2010, the woman begs for mercy as police laugh and joke.