More pressure on Sudan to prevent execution of a Christian woman! The Sudanese Foreign Minister should not be welcome in Germany!

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) demands more global pressure on the Sudanese government to release Meriam Yahia Ibrahim, a convert who was recently sentenced to death. "After the birth of her daughter on Monday, the Christian woman is now in great danger: she could be executed because she converted to Christianity," said the STP's Africa-consultant, Ulrich Delius, in Göttingen on Tuesday. "The federal government should emphasize that Sudan's Foreign Minister is not welcome in Germany if such absurd criminal proceedings can lead to death by hanging." Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti is planning to take part in an event of the Afrika-Verein (German-African Business Association) in Berlin on June 4, 2014.

On Tuesday, the lawyers of the 27-year-old doctor announced that their client had given birth to her daughter in prison. On May 11, 2014, the young woman had been sentenced to 100 lashes and subsequent execution by hanging. While she was still pregnant, it was decided that the sentence was to be carried out after the birth of her second child. According to Muslim laws, the execution can now be enforced. The court had found the mother of a 20-month-old son guilty of abandoning the Muslim faith and of committing adultery.

On Monday, the German Bishops' Conference had demanded the detainee to be released immediately. Also, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights had stated to be outraged about the conviction. 400,000 people from around the world have already signed a petition for her release on the website www.change.org.

In a court hearing on April 18, three witnesses had testified that Meriam Yahia Ibrahim grew up in a Christian family, but the judges could not be convinced. The young woman is the daughter of an Orthodox Christian from Ethiopia and a Muslim Sudanese. Her father disappeared when she was six years old, so she was raised as a Christian. In 2012, she married the Christian Daniel Wani, who is from southern Sudan but had already been a US-citizen for several years. However, according to Islamic law, the daughter of a Muslim is regarded as a Muslim too. Thus, her marriage – a marriage between a Muslim woman and a non-Muslim man – is not officially recognized. Since she already gave birth to a child, she was accused of committing "adultery".

Ulrich Delius, head of STP's Africa department, is available for further questions: +49 551 49906 27 or afrika@gfbv.de.