Sources are reporting that the newly freed Sudanese mother, Meriam Ibrahim, who was released yesterday after spending nearly five months in prison, was re-arrested at the Khartoum airport as she was attempting to leave the country.
The BBC is reporting that about 40 security agents detained Mrs. Ibrahim, along with her husband, Daniel Wani, and their two children, at the Khartoum airport. It is not known where they were flying although but Wani said yesterday that they were going to the United States.
Ibrahim’s legal defense team told the International Christian Concern (ICC) that the family was arrested for “national security concerns” by members of the Sudanese military.
According to the same defense lawyer, the Ibrahims are being held at a “National Security Office.” In speaking with ICC, Ibrahim’s defense expressed great concern over the situation, repeatedly stating that “no one can do anything.”
The defense explained that no legal mechanism exists by which to intervene on the Ibrahims’ behalf. Some ICC sources also reported that the Ibrahims’ legal defense have been threatened with arrest by Sudanese authorities.
ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa, Cameron Thomas, said, “We are deeply concerned by Meriam, Daniel, Martin and Maya’s arrest this morning at the hands of military personnel. The implication that an educated mother, debilitated father, toddler and infant pose a national security concern is absolutely absurd. Just yesterday, a Sudanese court not only released Meriam and her children, but acquitted her of all charges, dropped all imposed sentences and recognized as legal her marriage to Daniel, which had previously been annulled by a lower court. For the Sudanese State to violate not only its interim constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the African Charter for Human and People’s Rights and now a decision by one of the highest courts in its allegedly independent judiciary is inexcusable.
“In arresting Meriam and her family this morning, the al-Bashir Regime has once again confirmed its commitment to the violation, not the protection, of human rights and religious freedom, and the international community must respond immediately.”
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