KHARTOUM: Muslim “relatives” of a Sudanese Christian woman hiding at the US embassy are taking her to court to try to prove she belongs to their family, a lawyer said yesterday.
The complainants are the same people who laid an apostasy charge against Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, 26, said the lawyer, Mohanad Mustafa.
Ishag was sentenced to death in May for apostasy from Islam, under Islamic Shariah law that has been in force in Sudan since 1983 and outlaws conversions on pain of death.
An appeals court later quashed the verdict and sentence.
“In fact, it is not her family” who filed the cases, Mustafa said. “They want to get her in trouble. Somebody supports them. I can’t mention who.”
Mustafa confirmed that a case has been lodged against Ishag in family court “to prove that Meriam is Abrar and she is one of the family.”
Muslims refer to her as Abrar Al Hadi Mohamed Abdalla.
“I think the court will dismiss the case,” Mustafa said.
It is not a criminal action, meaning it would not affect her chances of travelling abroad.
Ishag is, however, charged criminally with forgery and providing false information in relation to a South Sudanese travel document she used last week while trying to leave Sudan for the United States.
On Sunday, lawyers asked prosecutors to dismiss the forgery-related charges.
Mustafa said that would leave Ishag and her family free to leave the country.
Ishag’s American husband Daniel Wani has said threats forced the family to go into hiding and seek the embassy’s protection.
AFP
