Pregnant Sudanese "Muslim woman" sentenced to death for "Christian conversion"

rt.com

A 27-year-old woman, who is eight months pregnant, has been sentenced to death in Sudan for converting to Christianity from Islam, sparking protests in a country already riddled with social strife.

Mariam Yahya Ibrahim had been ordered to give up her newly-adopted Christian faith by Thursday and return to Islam. Judge Abbas Khalifa asked Ibrahim whether she agreed to return to Islam. After she said, "I am a Christian," a charge of apostasy was declared and the death sentence was handed down, according to judicial sources, quoted by Reuters. "We gave you three days to recant, but you insist on not returning to Islam. I sentence you to be hanged to death," the judge told the woman, AFP reported. The woman had also been charged with adultery for marrying a Christian man.

Amnesty International immediately condemned the sentence, calling it "abhorrent." The organisation said the woman was raised as an Orthodox Christian, her mother's religion, because her father, a Muslim, was reportedly absent during her childhood. Outside the courthouse, around 50 people protested the decision, holding placards that read "Freedom of Religion." Islamists celebrated the court decision, chanting "God is Great." Sudanese activists condemned the decision and called on the Sudanese government to uphold the freedom of belief for all people.

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