Dr. Ibrahim's Husband's Congressional Delegation asked the State Department to Intervene

Editorial Note 2/9/2015: Dr.Ibrahim, wife of an American citizen and her two children were eventually freed by Italian efforts. The American State Department proved useless. Meanwhile Christians are still being hanged and America still pays foreign aid to their persecutors.   ALL OF THE CHRISTIANS OF THE SUDAN LIVE UNDER THIS SHADOW. DESPITE A SUDANESE CONSTITUTIONAL GUARANTEE OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM THEY ARE BEING CONDEMNED TO DEATH BY RADICAL ISLAMIC JUDGES OF LATE AT A RATE OF ABOUT TWO A MONTH. 

Until the West speaks up against this barbarism and demands that the Sudan,Saudi Arabia,and Iran and others comply with the United Nations declarations on universal human rights which include freedom of religion, and in the case of Sudan, comply with their own constitution the persecution of Christians including their executions will continue and accelerate. In Sudan one of the Christians on death row is a 27 year old medical doctor and mother of two imprisoned with her children.Her only "crime"is being a Christian.  She is married to an American. Below is the plea from her husband's Congressional delegation to the Secretary of State of the United States after the U.S. legation in Khartoum indicated that they "didn't have time for this". Tomorrow we will print the Administration's public release on the situation. Shamefully it is far weaker than the official British response and weaker than the response of UK Muslims who have protested the death sentence of Dr. Ibrahim. 

 Recently we reprinted a letter from a Christian Bishop in the Sudan protesting the death sentence of Dr. Ibrahim where in he also noted an ongoing trail of an unnamed young man for "Apostasy" by being a Christian. We simply don't know what these barbaric judges are up to in the Sudan. We know about Miriam Ibrahim, imprisoned with her two children because of her American husband. How rapidly these judges are condemning Christians to the gallows is unknown and unknowable. But we fear it is far more common than what the international media reports. It is far more common than the occasional case that makes it through America's big media infotainment driven editorial processes. The United States sent soldiers to liberate the Muslim nation of Kuwait, protect Saudi Arabia, and to protect Muslims in Bosnia. Why can't we at least speak out forcefully for two children and the wife of an American citizen? .....of course our President has publicly stated that we are "not a Christian nation". So that means armies to the rescue of imperiled Muslims, billions in aid to Muslim Nations, but we "don't have time" to get involved with the murder by judicial process of Christians including families of American citizens?       

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Ben Wakana, 202-225-5456

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and U.S. Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01) today urged the U.S. State Department to use every means of leverage at its disposal to ensure the release of Meriam Yahya Ibrahim Ishag, a pregnant Sudanese woman who has been sentenced to 100 lashes and death by hanging for apostasy because she married a Christian man. Ms. Ibrahim is married to Daniel Wani, a man originally from Sudan with U.S. citizenship living in New Hampshire.

"Meriam is eight months pregnant and is being held in a women's prison in Sudan with her nearly two-year-old son.  She has done nothing wrong.  No man or woman anywhere should be sentenced to death by hanging for exercising the basic right of religious freedom," Shaheen and Shea-Porter wrote.

They continued, "Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag and her toddler must be released immediately, and we urge the State Department to use every means of leverage at its disposal to ensure the release of this young woman and her son."

On May 15, Meriam Yahya Ibrahim Ishag was sentenced to be flogged for adultery and to be hanged for apostasy.

The Sudanese Interim Constitution of 2005 states that the government would respect the religious freedom of its people as a universal human right.

Full text of the letter to Secretary of State John Kerry is below.

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May 22, 2014

The Honorable John F. Kerry, Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20520

Dear Secretary Kerry,

We write to express our deep concern about the recent death sentence issued in Sudan for a pregnant 27-year old mother who is the wife of one of our New Hampshire constituents.  Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag is a Sudanese woman married to Daniel Wani, a man originally from Sudan with U.S. citizenship living in New Hampshire.  Meriam, a Christian, was arrested in Sudan for violating Shari'ah marriage laws, and when she refused to renounce her Christian faith, was sentenced to death.  

Meriam is eight months pregnant and is being held in a women's prison in Sudan with her nearly two-year-old son.  She has done nothing wrong.  No man or woman anywhere should be sentenced to death by hanging for exercising the basic right of religious freedom.

As you work to address the many complex and global challenges facing the U.S. and the world, we must remember the critical importance of human rights and religious tolerance to international stability and our own national security.  The U.S. must remain committed to the promotion of human rights in our foreign policy.  

Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag and her toddler must be released immediately, and we urge the State Department to use every means of leverage at its disposal to ensure the release of this young woman and her son.  

We also urge the State Department to continue its efforts to ensure that human rights and religious freedom are key components of our bilateral relations with Sudan and U.S. foreign policy and diplomacy at-large.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.  

Sincerely,

Jeanne Shaheen            
U.S. Senator

Carol Shea-Porter
Member of Congress

Shortly we'll post the Administration's communication to Sudan....so weak its shocking.