This Thursday, International Christian Concern (ICC) will be joining forces with 36 other human rights and faith-based organizations to sponsor a demonstration in front of the White House on behalf of Meriam Ibrahim, the 27-year-old mother of two sentenced to death for apostasy in Sudan on May 15. A follow-up demonstration will be held Friday in front of the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. Both demonstrations are scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m.
The demonstrations are set to take place only days after an appeals court in Khartoum took up deliberations on the case which has garnered widespread international condemnation from human rights groups, including Amnesty International. On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that a three-judge panel would consider an appeal to the death sentence filed in May by Meriam's attorneys, but that deliberations could take as long as several weeks. Meanwhile, Meriam, as well as her 20-month-old son Martin and newborn daughter Maya, will remain incarcerated in the Omdurman Federal Women's Prison.
The demonstration in front of the White House also comes amidst rising criticism that the United States, including the Obama Administration and the U.S. State Department, has largely failed to take action in the case. Last week, the Daily Beast reported, "For over two weeks since the [death sentence] verdict was announced there have been no public statements in defense of Meriam from President Barack Obama or any high level U.S. government official." The article went on to say that State Department comments on the case "[seem] to suggest that the administration is heartlessly preparing to stand by and passively watch the process play out." According to ICC sources, Meriam's husband, Daniel Wani, is a resident of New Hampshire and a U.S. citizen, making both of his children U.S. citizens by default. The U.S. State Department, however, is currently requesting a DNA test from Daniel to prove his paternity for both children.
The additional protest planned for Friday at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. follows on the heels of protests over the past two weeks in front of Sudanese Embassies in national capitals around the world, including London, Beirut and Ottawa.
ICC's Advocacy Director, Isaac Six, said, "The two demonstrations planned by ICC and others for Meriam this week in Washington D.C. are, in my opinion, long overdue. The Obama Administration and the State Department need to clearly understand that it is completely unacceptable for the United States to stand passively by as the wife and children of a U.S. citizen sit on death row because of her Christian beliefs. The Sudanese government also needs to know that the world will not forget Meriam or her family, no matter how much disinformation regarding her case they attempt to sow. The day is long past when tyrants or dictators could get away with sentencing their own citizens to death because of their religious beliefs without the world noticing. This Friday, we are sending a powerful message to Omar al-Bashir and the government of Sudan that the world has not forgotten Meriam, and that we will continue to fight for this innocent woman's release for as long as it takes."
More information regarding the planned demonstrations in Washington D.C., including a list of co-sponsoring organizations, can be found here. |
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