Sudanese woman sentenced to death for refusing to recant her Christian faith gives birth

KHARTOUM, Sudan – A Sudanese woman sentenced to death earlier this month after refusing to renounce her Christian faith has given birth in prison.

The independent Al Sahafa and Akhbar Al Youm dailies reported Thursday that 27-year-old Meriam Ibrahim gave birth to a girl at the prison clinic in Omdurman, near Khartoum, on Tuesday.

Ibrahim, who is married to a Christian man, was sentenced to death by hanging for apostasy. In light of her pregnancy, the judge allowed her two months for delivery and two years for breast-feeding before the execution order would be carried out.

Ibrahim, whose father was Muslim, was raised by her Christian mother.

Sudan's penal code criminalizes the conversion of Muslims to other religions, which is punishable by death. Anyone born to a Muslim father is automatically a Muslim.