Saturday, May 31, 2014

ACTION ALERT UP DATE: U.S. Lack of Reaction to Plight of Wife and Children of U.S. Citizen


meriam The man on your left in this wedding photo is an American citizen, therefore his two children by his wife on your right , though born in the Sudan, are American citizens by the same rules that make the man in the white house a citizen. Those two children are locked in a jail cell with their mother in Sudan where she is awaiting a 100 lash flogging ( some men have not survived 60) and death by hanging for the "crime" of being a Christian, "aggravated" by refusing to denounce her religion. She is 27 years old and a medical doctor. So far the closest thing to a public official protest is a statement by Jesse Jackson ( and he is a public official ...how?). By contrast in the UK where neither of these people are citizens the Foreign office is vehemently protesting the whole kangaroo court. The UN. Great Britain, the Netherlands,Canada, and the Christian Muslim Forum of Great Britian have all called for Dr,Ibrahim's release. Where was the U.S. in all this, the one nation with the legal right and might to take military action to rescue its children and their mother who is entitled to permanent residency in the U.S. and a fast track to citizenship? Where were America's Muslims? Christians and Jews of any nation should avoid travel or business relations with Sudan or any other nation that punishes people for their religious beliefs. The under reaction by the United States doesn't surprise those of us with U.S. Merchant Marine experience who have been in need of U.S. counselor assistance in foreign lands with cargo and customs issues. Despite the State Department denial our experience makes the description of U.S. embassy personnel who couldn't be bothered very believable. There is a rumor that because of the international protest that Dr. Ibrahim may be released soon but she is still not out of the woods, still in prison with her children, and still under a flogging and death sentence. Here is a link to news article about her rumored release  .http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/31/reports-sudan-death-row-woman-to-be-freed
NOTE THAT NOTHING IN THAT ARTICLE INVOLVES ANY OFFICIAL WORD. IT IS NOT TIME TO LET DOWN OUR GUARD!

HOW HAS THE U.S. GOVERNMENT HELPED SO FAR?
"Both Wani and Mohammed said the US authorities in Khartoum had failed to press for Ibrahim's release. "It's not the US government. When the problem began, the US consul here had a very negative position on this. She was very high-handed. She said, and I quote: 'I don't have time,'" Wani told CNN.
Mohammed said: "The US embassy is not giving help." No one was available for comment at the embassy in Khartoum." From an interview with Daniel Wani husband and father of the imprisoned and condemned : http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/31/world-leaders-campaign-sudanese-womans-death-sentence-meriam-ibrahim
THERE WAS A STATEMENT FROM THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT:
The state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Thursday that US officials in Khartoum had conveyed grave concerns about the case to the Sudanese foreign minister this week, and were closely monitoring the appeals process.
"We're doing everything we can to push for her release," she said."
Unfortunately we have yet to see or hear from the President of the one nation whose tiny children (one a new born) are imprisoned and may be forced to watch their mother be tortured and hanged. Dr. Ibrahim would have been safely in the United States before any of this happened had the U.S. Immigration authorities timely processed her husband's application to bring his wife and children into the United States. If you think that as a U.S. citizen that you have a right to contract a legal marriage while working over seas, and that the Children of that marriage are entitled to U.S. citizen ship and your wife to permanent residency; techno- legally you are right, but you can trust the U.S. Bureaucracy to totally screw that up for you. 

MORE FROM THE BRITISH:
"The British Foreign Office has described the sentence as barbaric, and summoned the Sudanese charge d'affaires to hear its "deep concern". The UN, Canada and the Netherlands have also called on the Sudanese authorities to overturn the convictions and release Ibrahim".

"The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said he wholeheartedly endorsed a statement from the Christian Muslim Forum in Britain calling for the sentence to be rescinded."

We will keep you posted

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