Lawyers to challenge legality of apostasy in Sudan

Lawyers representing Maryam Yahya Ibrahim are planning to take her case to the Sudanese Constitutional Court. Although Ibrahim’s conviction for apostasy was overturned in June, her case is pending at the Supreme Court, following an appeal by Muslim members of her family. On 11 May, a Khartoum court sentenced the then pregnant Ibrahim to death for apostasy, after she had refused to renounce her Christian faith. She was raised by her Christian mother, but was born a Muslim. Institutions all over the world denounced the conviction.Ibrahim was released from prison after an appeal court ruled the lower court’s death sentence to be unfounded. Ibrahim and her family managed to fly to Italy on 24 July. Her lawyers now intend to challenge the constitutionality of all convictions for apostasy at the Constitutional Court in Khartoum. According to the Sudan Criminal Code, “Whoever is guilty of apostasy is invited to repent over a period to be determined by a tribunal. If he persists in his apostasy and was not recently converted to Islam, he will be put to death.” (Source: Joseph DeCaro/worthynews.com) File photo:  Maryam Yahya Ibrahim after her release from Omdurman Women Prison,  23 June, holding her new-born daughter Maya. Her husband, Daniel Wani (L) is holding their son. (Radio Dabanga correspondent) Related:Mother convicted for apostasy in Sudan arrives in USA (2 August  2014) Sudan Court confirms death penalty for pregnant mother refusing to leave Christian faith (15 May 2014)