Sudanese woman rearrested
June 24, 2014
A Sudanese Christian woman was in detention on Tuesday after being rearrested at Khartoum aiport as she tried to leave the country with her family.
27-year-old Meriam Ibrahim was travelling with her American husband, Daniel Wani, and their two young children when they were stopped by officials.
It comes a day after an appeal court overturned her death sentence for apostasy and released her from prison.
News agencies quoted a source familiar with the initial court case, which saw Ibrahim sentenced to hang for refusing to renounce her Christian faith in favor of Islam.
"She has the right to leave the country," the source said.
The source also said they were taken to a facility of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS).
The whereabouts of their two young children, a baby girl born in prison before the 27-year-old's release, and a 20-month-old boy was not immediately known.
Safety fears following appeal court ruling
The case sparked an outcry from Western governments and rights groups after the mother-of-two was sentenced to hang on May 15.
Ibrahim was raised according to her mother's Christian faith after her Muslim father left the family when she was five years old.
She was convicted under Islamic Sharia law in force in Sudan since 1983, which outlaws conversions on pain of death.
One of her lawyers said she went into hiding because of death threats after an appeal court quashed the verdict.
"She is in a safe place. I will not tell you where," Mohanad Mustafa told the AFP news agency on Monday night. "The main reason is that we are concerned about her life."
Ibrahim was released on Monday after what the Sudanese government described as "unprecedented international pressure."
lw/ng (AFP, Reuters, AP)