Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, a 27-year- old Christian Sudanese woman, eight months pregnant with her second child, was convicted of ‘adultery’ and ‘apostasy’ by a court in Khartoum on 11 May. Meriam was given three days by the court to recant her faith, which she refused.
Treating adultery and apostasy as criminal offences is not consistent with international human rights law – including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – to which Sudan is a state party. The criminalization of adultery violates the rights to freedom of expression and association and invariably discriminates against women in its enforcement. The criminalization of apostasy is incompatible with the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Meriam Ibrahim is a prisoner of conscience, convicted solely because of her religious beliefs and identity, and must be released immediately and unconditionally. Meriam was arrested and charged with adultery in August 2013 after a family member reportedly claimed that she was committing adultery because of her marriage to a Christian South Sudanese man. Under Shari’a law as
practised in Sudan, a Muslim woman is not permitted to marry a non-Muslim man, and any such marriage is considered adultery. The court added the charge of apostasy in February 2014 when Meriam asserted that she was a Christian and not a Muslim. According to Meriam, she was raised as an Orthodox Christian, her mother’s religion, because her father, a Muslim, was absent during her childhood.
Meriam risks being sentenced to up to 100 lashes for adultery under Article 146. If she refuses to recant her Christian faith, she risks the death penalty for apostasy under Article 126 of the Sudan Criminal Code. The punishment of flogging violates the absolute prohibition against torture and other ill-treatment in international human rights law. Amnesty International considers the death penalty to be the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and a violation of the right to life and opposes its use in all cases and without exception, regardless of the nature of the crime.
Tato petice je již ukončena.
Celé znění on-line petice, kterou posíláme adresátům.
Your Excellency,
On 15 May Meriam Yehya Ibrahim was sentenced to death by hanging for „apostasy“, and to flogging for „adultery“. We urge the authorities to ensure that she is released immediately and unconditionally because she is a prisoner of conscience, convicted solely because of her religious beliefs and identity.
We call on the authorities to repeal Articles 126 and 146 that criminalise apostasy and adultery respectively, in conformity with Sudan’s obligations under international human rights law.
We call on the authorities to establish a moratorium on executions, as a first step towards abolishing the death penalty, and to abolish the punishment of flogging.
Yours sincerely,
Your Excellency,
On 15 May Meriam Yehya Ibrahim was sentenced to death by hanging for „apostasy“, and to flogging for „adultery“. We urge the authorities to ensure that she is released immediately and unconditionally because she is a prisoner of conscience, convicted solely because of her religious beliefs and identity.
We call on the authorities to repeal Articles 126 and 146 that criminalise apostasy and adultery respectively, in conformity with Sudan’s obligations under international human rights law.
We call on the authorities to establish a moratorium on executions, as a first step towards abolishing the death penalty, and to abolish the punishment of flogging.
Yours sincerely,
