Many news agencies are reporting today (Friday, May 16, 2014) that a judge in Khartoum, Soudan, has sentenced a pregnant 27 year old, Mariam Yahya Ibrahim, to death because she is a Christian. The technical term is apostasy and his honour added 100 lashings for “adultery.” In the Soudan, adultery is a little different than here. You are an adulterer if you marry anyone who isn’t Muslim. Heavily pregnant and the mother of a 2 year old, Mariam has been in prison, with her young son, for months. She was initially accused of adultery because she is married to a non-Muslim of South Sudanese origin — a marriage the court did not recognize. The court added the apostasy charge after the woman told the court she is Christian, according to reports by rights groups and lawyers involved in the case. These convictions and harsh sentences are said to defy Sudanese law but it’s clear they have got a problem. Actually, it’s clear that we have a problem too.
