Interview with Mariam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag

Over at Mission Netrwork News Julie Oosterhouse has an article about Mariam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, who was released by Sudanese authorities this past summer after she and her two children (one of them a newborn infant) were held in prison. Mariam was sentenced to death for the crime of being Christian.

Here is the interview on Fox News:

Give thanks to God for Mariam's release, and please pray for our oppressed Christian brothers and sisters worldwide.

Mariam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag

According to the Sudan Tribune there is some confusion over whether Mariam Ishag will be released.

Key quote:

The Sudanese foreign ministry denied a statement attributed to its Undersecretary Abdallah Alazrag in which he announced that the government will seek to free a woman sentenced to death for apostasy within the next few days.

"The lady will be freed within days in line with legal procedure that will be taken by the judiciary and the ministry of justice," Alazrag told Agence France Presse (AFP) earlier today.

“She will definitely not be executed. I am sure about this,” he told The Sunday Times in separate remarks.

The Sudanese diplomat made similar statements to BBC and Reuters. Sudan Tribune reporter in Khartoum said that Alazrag, who was Khartoum’s ex-ambassador to London, has been staying in Britain for some time seeking medical treatment.

He did not specify how the 27-year-old Meriam Yehya Ibrahim would be released despite a court conviction which a lawyer told Sudan Tribune can only be overturned by appeals court or a clemency issued by president Omer Hassan al-Bashir.

In a statement to CNN, Sudan’s foreign ministry spokesperson Abu Bakr al-Sideeg, said he was unaware of any plans to release Ibrahim “before a ruling from an appeals court”.

Sudan Tribune failed to reach the spokesperson despite repeated attempts today.

A recent picture of Mariam and her children, who are also imprisoned with her:

Mariam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag

Perhaps you have not heard the story of Mariam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag. She is the wife and pregnant mother who has been sentenced to death by a court in Sudan. Under Sudanese law Mariam is considered to be Muslim because her father (who abandoned his family when Mariam was young child) is Muslim, and it is illegal for someone who is a Muslim to become a Christian. Mariam will be hanged for this crime after being given 100 lashes.

Mariam and her son Martin Wani, who is not yet two years old, spend their days shackled to the wall of a filthy cell awaiting the day of Mariam's execution. Below is a picture of Mariam's son Martin Wani - temporarily freed from his shackles - being fed orange soda by one of the guards.

Mariam recently gave birth to a daughter, Maya. No word yet if the infant has also been shackled to the wall of her mother's and brother's cell.

The plight of Mariam Ishag - and Asia Bibi, and countless other women - is disgusting and horrifying, but not surprising. The sadistic cruelty of the Islamists is nothing new: an honest look at history reveals many, many similar examples. What is happening to Mariam is part of the authentic "war on women", and not the phony war being promoted by rich, pampered Western feminists seeking political advantage.

In addition to the savages who have chained a young mother and her two young children to the wall of a filthy cell with the goal of hanging her, special dishonorable mention must go to Western journalism. In many cases Western journalists have become the willing bootlickers of Islamists, eager to demonize as "Islamophobic" anyone who objects to the treatment of women in many Muslim countries. To confront the reality of what happens to women like Mariam and Asia would require these journalists to carefully examine the cult of secular multiculturalism they passionately believe in. That is probably not going to happen anytime soon: many journalists prefer a lie to the truth because the lie has a pleasanter taste. Compare the near total news blackout of Mariam with the wall-to-wall coverage of Donald Sterling, whose actions are far less newsworthy than the barbarism of the Sudan government.

But we can pray. God will hear the prayers of Mariam Ishag and Asia Bibi. He will not hold guiltless those who are tormenting them because of their Christian faith - or those who prefer to ignore what is happening because it offends their political worldview.

Witnesses to the faith: Sudan

World Gospel Mission will distribute a quarter of a million Bibles in southern Sudan next year.

Remember that mere possession of a Bible in Muslim-dominated areas of the world can be deadly. Please pray for the Christians engaged in this project, and for the people who will receive these Bibles.