URI Africa urges the Department of Justice and the Sudanese Criminal Court in Khartoum to immediately release Mrs. Meriam Yehya Ibrahim from Custody.
United Religions Initiative Africa express its dismay and strongly condemns the inhuman decision of a Sudanese court to sentence Mrs. Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, a pregnant Sudanese woman, to death for her religious choice, and for flogging the woman for being married to a man of an allegedly different religion.
27 year-old Mrs. Meriam Yehya Ibrahim is eight months pregnant and currently in detention with her 20 month-old son. Her death sentence was handed down after she refused to recant her religion.
She is convicted solely because of her religious beliefs and identity, and the court has also sentenced her to 100 lashes on charges of adultery, because she had married to a man of an allegedly different religion and the union was not considered valid. The couple has a child, a 20 month-old boy.
In this civilized world it is unacceptable for a woman to be sentenced to death simply because of her religious faith or lashed because she is married to a man with a different religious faith.
URI Africa would like to stress that the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Right has to be respected by all countries.
URI Africa demands the Sudanese Department of Justice recall its signatory status to both the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and to uphold the obligations contained therein, including the protection and promotion of human rights, the guarantee of free practice of religion (ACHPR, Article 2), the prohibition of arbitrary arrest (ACHPR, Article 8), and the guarantee that, “…everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion…to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom…to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching” (ICCPR, Article 18).
URI Africa also draws attention to the fact that the Constitution of Sudan (2005) guarantees complete freedom to worship a religion of one’s choosing (Article 6.A), the rights of men and women to marry and build a family (Article 15.1), and the State obligation to “protect motherhood and women from injustice...and empower them in public life” (Article 15.2). The Constitution also prohibits ‘cruel, inhuman, or degrading’ punishments (Article 33), provides guarantees for fair trial and due process (Article 34) and prohibits use of the death penalty on ‘pregnant or lactating women’ (Article 36).
URI Africa urges the Department of Justice and the Sudanese Criminal Court in Khartoum to uphold these aforementioned commitments and release Mrs. Meriam Yehya Ibrahim and her child immediately and unconditionally from custody.
May Peace Prevail on Earth.
