Sudan to free woman on death row for apostasy

Authorities in Sudan have agreed to release a woman, sentenced to death for abandoning the Islamic faith, after world leaders added their voices to the campaign to free her, the media reported Saturday.

Meriam Ibrahim, 27, who was held with her two young children after giving birth in shackles this week, was sentenced to 100 lashes for adultery and to death for apostasy by a court in Khartoum, The Guardian reported, adding that Ibrahim was raised a Christian by her mother and refused to renounce the faith.

However the court ruled that she is Muslim because that was her father's faith. It also annulled her Christian marriage with Daniel Wani, a US citizen since 2005.

Abdullahi Alzareg, an under secretary at Sudan's foreign ministry, said Saturday that Sudan guaranteed religious freedom and was committed to protecting the woman while announcing that she will be released within days from the prison, according to BBC.

Ibrahim's husband had launched a campaign for the sentence to be dropped. British Prime Minister David Cameron, US civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson and former British prime minister Tony Blair were among the leaders who voiced support for Wani's campaign.

Cameron said he was "absolutely appalled" when he heard of the decision.

Wani married Ibrahim, a graduate of Sudan University's school of medicine, in 2011. But the Khartoum court ruled that the union was invalid and that Ibrahim was guilty of adultery.

Ibrahim gave birth to a girl in a prison clinic this week while shackled by her feet to the floor. Wani, who has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair, lives in Manchester, New Hampshire.