Sudan: Condemned Christian woman and her family arrive at Rome

(UPDATED) Maryam Ibrahim, whose case caught worldwide attention when she was condemned to death for apostasy, flew to Italy this morning.Ibrahim and her family arrived at Rome’s Ciampino airport at 9.30am on an aircraft provided by the Italian government, the Italian The Local reported. On the flight, they were accompanied by Italy’s Deputy Foreign Minister Lapo Pistelli, who has been following the case closely.The family was welcomed at the airport by Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, and Foreign Affairs Minister Federica Mogherini, as guests of the Italian government.Mohamed Mustafa, Maryam’s lawyer, said he had not been informed about her departure. “I don’t know anything about such news. So far the complaint that her Muslim family filed against Maryam being married to a Christian, which prevented her from leaving Sudan, has not been cancelled,” Mustafa told Reuters. “The court case was scheduled for 4 August.”Later on the day, Ibrahim and her family met Pope Francis. They were received at the pontiff’s guesthouse for half an hour “in an atmosphere of serenity and tenderness”, theVatican said in a statement. Apostasy and adulteryEight months pregnant, Ibrahim was sentenced to death on 11 May by a Khartoum court for not renouncing her Christian faith. She was forced to give birth in chains in the Federal Women’s Prison in Omdurman, the sister city of Khartoum.Her Muslim family had filed a lawsuit against her for leaving Islam, considered apostasy in Islamic law, after she married Daniel Wani, a Christian. Because marriages between a Christian man and a Muslim woman are prohibited in Islam, the marriage was not recognised, which caused Ibrahim to also be charged with adultery. Ibrahim was raised by her Christian mother, after her Muslim father left the family when she was six years old. Under the Islamic law, children take the faith of their father. Ibrahim said she never practiced Islam. She was freed from prison after an appeals court found the lower court’s death penalty sentence to be unfounded. Ibrahim, and her husband, who has both South Sudanese and US nationality, went with their children to Khartoum airport to leave the country for the USA. They were arrested at the airport, accused of using forged travel documents. They had received the documents from the South Sudanese embassy in Khartoum, while Ibrahim, a Sudanese national, was supposed to obtain them from the Sudanese authorities. Congressional hearing Ibrahim’s case was the topic of a US congressional hearing on Wednesday. Members of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on global human rights discussed the human rights abuse perpetrated on Ibrahim. Rep. Chris Smith, chairman of the House, oversaw the hearing, entitled “The Troubling Case of Meriam Ibrahim”. The vice-chairman of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Zuhdi Jasser, led off testimony on the plight of Ibrahim. The US House Committee on Foreign Affairs of the US House of Representatives, also known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has jurisdiction over bills and investigations related to US foreign affairs. The website of the House offers a webcam of the hearing. EU resolution On 17 July, the EU parliament passed a resolution on the case, condemning Ibrahim’s “degrading and inhumane” treatment, and calling for urgent legal reforms that protect basic human rights, and guard against discrimination on religious grounds or gender. The resolution followed a meeting between EU parliamentarians and a Sudanese delegation of opposition forces in Strasbourg. The resolution also expresses EU’s support for an inclusive negotiated solution to the conflicts in Sudan, and backs the efforts of civil society and opposition parties in promoting the peace process.EU Delegation in KhartoumThe EU Delegation in Khartoum issued a statement after Ibrahim and her family had arrived in Italy. “The EU Delegation in Khartoum welcomes that Meriam Ibrahim and her family were allowed to leave Sudan to Italy today after obtaining an exit visa. This follows the reversal in June of a death sentence issued for ‘apostasy’.””The EU Delegation in Khartoum reaffirms the importance to protect fundamental human rights and to guarantee freedom of religion or belief for all, and welcomes the decision taken by the Sudanese government on this matter.” News photo: Pope Francis meets Maryam Ibrahim at the Vatican (AP) Related: Sudan opposition forces call for EU support (17 July 2014)Christian woman hiding after new ‘forgery’ charge in Sudan (1 July 2014)