Friday 30 May 2014

#FreeMeriamIbrahim- she gave birth while IN SHACKLES in barbaric Sudanese jail: Photos

This is the first picture of the mother-of-two who has been sentenced to death in Sudan for being a Christian - from inside the prison where she is being held.
In an exclusive photo, Meriam Ibrahim puts on a brave face as she holds her newborn baby girl Maya who was born in the jail where she has been locked up for eight months.
But behind the smile there is a different story - Meriam's eyes have dark rings under them, her arms are alarmingly thin and her face looks gaunt.
Gone is the radiant glow from the day she married husband Daniel Wani, a U.S. citizen, and in its place is a woman struggling with the awful fate awaiting her.

Proud: Father Daniel Wani, a U.S. citizen, from Manchester, New Hampshire, holds Maya for the first time after being allowed to visit to his wife, Meriam Ibrahim, who was sentenced to death for marrying him, a Christian


Despite only just having given birth she will be given the 100 lashes that are part of her sentence in two weeks' time unless her appeal is a success.
The Sudanese authorities are intent on pressing ahead with the barbaric punishment despite mounting international outrage.
The governments of the UK, the US and the Netherlands have expressed concern and a petition calling for Meriam's release by Amnesty got 650,000 signatures.
The picture of Meriam, 27, shows her wearing a red headscarf that hides her short dark coloured hair.
The rest of her body is completely covered by a green shawl and a multi-coloured dress.
It was provided to MailOnline by Justice Centre Sudan, the US-based campaign group which has been paying for her lawyers.
A spokesman for the organisation said: 'We hope that seeing Meriam inside the prison where she is being held will make people realise what she is going through.
'We have lodged an appeal for her but if the verdict does not come back in two weeks' time she will be given the 100 lashes.
Cruel: Martin, above, is pictured with his father on the heartbreaking visit. His family claim he is American because his father has been granted U.S. citizenship. He is being held with Meriam because the authorities claim he is a Muslim and will not release him into the care of a Christian


'She has only just given birth and she will be lashed unless she gets a reprieve.'
Justice Centre Sudan also appealed to the public for any donations to help continue the struggle to free Meriam.
The spokesman said: 'We need any help we can get.'
Meriam was thrown in jail in September and earlier this month was sentenced to death for adultery for marrying Mr Wani, a Christian who lives in Manchester, New Hampshire.
She was also sentenced to the 100 lashes as the Sudanese court refuses to recognise her 2011 marriage to Mr Wani because her father was a Muslim.
Even though he left her family when he was six and her mother divorced him, raising her daughter as a Christian, this means that Meriam should worship Islam, the judges have decided.
The picture of mother and baby comes after it emerged that Meriam was shackled as she delivered little Maya.
Amid the joy of seeing his child for the first time, her husband spoke of his anger at the treatment Meriam received during labour.
Mr Wani told The Telegraph: 'They kept a chain on her legs. She is very unhappy about that.'
He said that he had initially been refused permission to see his daughter, but authorities eventually let him in to the prison - and his wife was momentarily freed from her chains.
Mr Wani was then able to hold his daughter Maya for the first time after she was born five days early in the hospital wing at Omdurman Federal Women’s Prison in North Khartoum yesterday.

Meriam has spent the past four months shackled to the floor in a disease-ridden jail after being sentenced to death by hanging earlier this month for converting from Islam to Christianity and marrying a Christian man.
Her lawyer Mohaned Mustafa Elnour said the couple are 'happy and proud' of their new arrival and that it has brought a momentary ray of light to an otherwise bleak and desperate situation.
Mr Elnour: 'This is a special moment for them. Daniel is delighted that he is able to see his new daughter so soon.
'The family are taking some time to enjoy the birth before they return to fighting the injustice of Meriam's sentence.'
Mr Wani, a 27-year-old biochemist who lives in Manchester, New Hampshire, also got the chance to hold his 20-month-old son Martin, who is being held in the barbaric prison with his mother.
The photo is especially poignant as Meriam will never see her beautiful daughter grow up. She is set to hang sometime in the next two years as the authorities said she will be executed when she has finished weaning Maya.
And before the birth, Meriam made the defiant claim that she would rather die than give up her faith.
In a heart-wrenching conversation with her husband during a rare prison visit, Meriam told him: 'If they want to execute me then they should go ahead and do it because I'm not going to change my faith.'
An Islamic Sharia judge said she could be spared the death penalty if she publicly renounced her faith and becomes a Muslim once more.
Meriam insists she has always been a Christian and told her husband she could not 'pretend to be a Muslim' just to spare her life.
She told him: 'I refuse to change. I am not giving up Christianity just so that I can live.
'I know I could stay alive by becoming a Muslim and I would be able to look after our family, but I need to be true to myself.’
Mr Wani revealed his wife's defiant stance during an exclusive interview with MailOnline at his modest home in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.
Sitting beneath glamorous photographs of his wife taken at their wedding in December 2011, he said: 'My wife is very, very strong. She is stronger than me.
'When they sentenced her to death I broke down and tears were streaming down my eyes. Our lawyers were passing me tissues. But she stayed strong.
'She did not flinch when she was sentenced. It was amazing to see, particularly because she is the one facing the death penalty.'
Mr Wani was in Khartoum trying to arrange for Meriam and their son, Martin, to live with him in the U.S. when his wife was arrested in September. She was three weeks pregnant with their second child.
The authorities will not release Martin into the care of his father because they claim he is a Muslim too.
She spends much of her time shackled to the floor, is not receiving much nutrition in her food and is rarely allowed outside.
Both she and her bewildered son have contracted various illnesses because of the poor sanitation at the jail.

Lend your voice to this struggle, help stop this barbaric act being melted on Mariam Ibrahim. join the struggle to Free Mariam Ibrahim. 

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