A Sudanese mother of two, once sentenced to hang for supposedly leaving Islam, has spoken out on why her Christian faith is so important to her.
Meriam Ibrahim, who was raised Christian by her mother, spoke to Fox News host Megyn Kelly in an interview aired Monday night on “The Kelly File.” Ibrahim told the host that it was her faith that got her through the ordeal.
“I had my trust in God,” Ibrahim said, via a translator. “My faith was the only weapon that I had in these confrontations with imams and Muslim scholars, because that’s what I believe.”
Ibrahim said that while she was in prison, after she had been convicted of apostasy – the crime of converting from Islam – Muslim scholars visited her and she was given a chance to recant her Christianity, but she wouldn’t.
“If I did that that would mean that I gave up,” Ibrahim said. “It’s my right to follow the religion of my choice.”
She added: “I am not the only one suffering from this problem. There are many Meriams in Sudan and throughout the world. It’s not just me. I am not the only one.”
Ibrahim is married to Daniel Wani, a U.S. citizen, but because Sudanese law designated her a Muslim for being born in the country to a Muslim father, her marriage was never recognized. Because of that, she was convicted of adultery in addition to apostasy.
While in prison, Ibrahim gave birth to the couple’s second child, a daughter named Maya.
“Maya was born under difficult circumstances. I was supposed to give birth at a hospital outside of prison but they denied that request as well,” Ibrahim told Kelly. “When it was time to give birth, they refused to remove the chains from my ankles. So I had to give birth with chains on my ankles. It was difficult.”
In June, an appeals court overturned Ibrahim’s conviction and she was released from prison. Sudanese authorities re-arrested her for trying to leave the country while her father’s family – who wanted her hanged – appealed the decision. Ibrahim, her husband and her two children sought refuge in the U.S. embassy in Sudan until they were provided a flight to Italy.
In August, Ibrahim and her family finally arrived in the U.S. to the cheers of supporters.
Ibrahim spoke to the plight of other Christians in Sudan and throughout the Muslim world.
“With regard to the situation of Christians, this is a well-known fact that they live under difficult circumstances and they are persecuted and treated harshly,” Ibrahim said. “They are afraid to say that they are Christian, out of fear of persecution.”
(Note: Due to various transliterations from Arabic, there are a few different spellings between this article and the Fox News clip featured above.)
