‘Death penalty for Christian woman violates Islamic principles’: PCP

The Popular Congress Party (PCP), led by Dr Hassan El Turabi, considers the death penalty for Maryam Yahya Ibrahim, convicted of apostasy “a scandal, extremism, and intellectual backwardness”. On Thursday a Khartoum court sentenced the pregnant mother (27) to death by hanging because she had converted to Christianity. Ibrahim is the daughter of a Muslim father and a Christian mother. When she was six years old, her father abandoned his family. The children remained with their mother, and were raised as Christians in the Ethiopian Orthodox tradition. Kamal Omar, lawyer and PCP’s Political Secretary, emphasised to Radio Dabanga on Friday that freedom of belief is an asset of Islam. He described the ruling against Ibrahim as an act of apostasy itself. “It is a violation of the basic principles of Islam. All PCP members are against the conviction of Ibrahim.” National dialogue Omar announced that the PCP, the National Umma Party (NUP), and the Reform Now Party (RNP) who agreed to participate in the National Dialogue, as proposed by the President El Bashir in January, have nominated party members who will join the coordinating committee. “Last week, party leaders Hassan El Turabi, Sadig El Mahdi (NUP), and Ghazi Salaheldin El Atabani (RNP) have nominated seven candidates for the committee. The proposed seven are the heads of the NUP, RNP, PCP, the Arab Socialist Nasserist Party, the Democratic Platform of the East, the Federalist Party, and the Working Forces’ Alliance.” File photo: A church and a mosque in Aleppo( cnewa.org) Related: Sudan Court confirms death penalty for pregnant mother refusing to leave Christian faith (15 May 2014)