No compulsion in .......

Sudanese woman sentenced
to death for apostasy gives
birth in prison
Husband and lawyer are denied access to
Meriam Ibrahim after she gives birth to
girl a month before due date
Meriam Ibrahim with her husband, Daniel
Wani.
A Sudanese woman sentenced to death
for apostasy has given birth to a baby
girl in the Khartoum prison where she is
being held with her 20-month-old son.
Meriam Ibrahim, 27, gave birth in the
early hours of Tuesday, a month before
her due date. Amnesty International said
the condition of the mother and baby
was not known as Ibrahim's lawyer and
her husband, a US citizen, had been
denied access to her.
Omdurman women's prison has a basic
clinic, where the child is thought to have
been born. Ibrahim has been shackled
since being imprisoned.
"The Sudanese government must
guarantee her safety and the safety of her
children, including the newborn baby,"
said Amnesty's Manar Idriss. Amnesty
has called for Ibrahim's unconditional
release.
This month a court ruled that Ibrahim's
marriage to a Christian man was invalid
and that she was guilty of apostasy and
adultery. Ibrahim was sentenced to 100
lashes for adultery and to be hanged for
apostasy.
Ibrahim denied the charges, telling the
court she was the daughter of a Sudanese
Muslim man and an Ethiopian Christian
woman, and had been brought up as a
Christian after her father left when she
was six. She refused to renounce her
faith.
Her lawyers lodged an appeal against the
convictions last week. "There is no
timeframe for the appeal. They usually
take a few months, but given the
international attention this might be
much quicker," Idriss said.
If the appeal fails, Ibrahim's lawyers may
seek rulings from Sudan's supreme court
and constitutional court.
Sudan has faced mounting international
criticism over the case, with the UK
government calling the convictions and
sentences barbaric. The US state
department said it was deeply disturbed
by the case. Globally, more than 700,000
people had backed Amnesty's call for
Ibrahim's release by noon on Tuesday,
including 113,500 in the UK.
Idriss said conditions inside the prison
were reasonable, but Amnesty was
concerned about the use of restraints. It
described shackling as cruel and
inhuman. Ibrahim has told her lawyers
that the shackles are painful and make
movement difficult.
Daniel Wani, Ibrahim's husband, who
lives in Manchester, New Hampshire, is
in Khartoum trying to secure his wife
and children's release. The couple
decided it was better for their young son,
Martin, to remain with his mother.
The Sudanese authorities have said they
will defer Ibrahim's death sentence for
two years to allow her to nurse her
newborn baby.