Merely a day after her death sentence for converting from Islam to Christianity was canceled and she was released, Mariam Ibrahim was taken into custody again on Tuesday over supposedly suspicious travel documents. She was arrested trying to leave Sudan (reportedly to travel to the US via South Sudan) with her husband, 3-year-old son, and month-old baby who she gave birth to in prison. The 26-year-old physician and her family have since been released and are currently at the US embassy in Khartoum.
Apparently Sudan’s secret service apprehended her after Ibrahim’s brother told authorities she had “been ‘kidnapped‘ by her husband who planned to take her to the U.S. against her will.” Ibrahim was then charged with forgery, accused of falsifying South Sudanese emergency travel documents as the documents list her nationality and residence as South Sudan, the home country of her husband Daniel Wani, now a US citizen. The South Sudanese embassy stated they issued the paperwork and that the documents are authorized and authentic, but Sudanese officials do not recognize the documents as valid. They claim Ibrahim should have used a Sudanese passport instead.
Ibrahim has since been released on the condition that she stay in Sudan. But US diplomats have met with Sudanese officials to change that decision. According to the Independent:
On Thursday, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said: “We are in communication with the Sudanese foreign ministry to ensure that she and her family will be free to travel as quickly as possible.
“From our perspective, Miriam has all of the documents she needs to travel to and enter the United States. It is up to the government of Sudan to allow her to exit the country.”
Can this woman and her family PLEASE just get a moment’s rest?
Image via AP.