Mariam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag

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Mariam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag is a 27-year-old Sudanese woman who in 2014 was sentenced to death for apostasy. Mariam was born to a Muslim father, but after her father left she was raised as a Christian by her mother. A court said that she should have followed the faith of her absent father. She was given 3 days to abandon her Christian faith but refused to do so. Her marriage to a Christian man was also considered void as Islamic law does not allow marriages between Muslim women and non-Muslim men. Therefore, she was also sentenced to 100 lashes for adultery to be carried out before her execution.

Mariam Ibrahim was arrested 8 months into her second pregnancy and forced to give birth in prison with her legs chained. This may cause permanent disability to the baby.

The death sentence generated a strong international outcry, including statements from the leaders of all three major political parties in the United Kingdom, the United States State Department, the United Nations and Amnesty International among others. Many ordinary people also supported her, Hemant Mehta for example.

Mariam Ibrahim was released from prison in June 2014, but when she and her family tried to leave Sudan secret police detained them at the airport using violence against the family and their lawyers. Following their release the family spent a month in the U.S. embassy in Khartoum. They finally left Sudan and later met Pope Francis at the Vatican. The family are now in New Hampshire in the United States where they plan to live and Meriam Ibrahim intended to campaign for victims of religious persecution.