Sudanese Christian jailed for apostasy secretly read the Bible in prison

A woman who was imprisoned and sentenced to death in Sudan in 2014 for marrying a Christian man said that she was able to read the Bible secretly while she was incarcerated with the help of a trusted Muslim inmate.

The case of Mariam Ibraheem gained international attention in May 2014 when she was sentenced to death for apostasy after she married an American Christian named Daniel Wani. Although she was raised by her Christian mother, she was considered as a Muslim by the Sudanese court because her father was a Muslim.

She was imprisoned along with her 20-month-old son, Martin, and was forced to give birth to another baby while she was in shackles.

She was released in June 2014 by the order of a Sudanese appeals court due to the outcry from human rights groups and international politicians.

Ibraheem told The Christian Post that she did not have much sleep at night while she was incarcerated because she had to watch over her son. She added that she was only able to read the Bible at night when there were no guards around. She revealed that she had to pay off one of the guards to acquire the scriptures for her.

She said that her cellmate, who was arrested for being in Sudan illegally, helped her keep the Bible from the prison guards.

"She was an inmate. She is from Ethiopia. She is a Muslim but she had to keep [the Bible] for me," she said.

Ibraheem said that her cellmate also helped her look after her son when she had to go to the bathroom. She recalled that she once explained to her cellmate that the Bible was the reason for her incarceration.

"She understood. And, when her time [in jail] ended and she had to pay to get out, she asked me for help," she said.

Ibraheem said that she kept in touch with her former cellmate and she was told that she had converted to Christianity.

"She went somewhere with some people I know. She later told me that she became a Christian and married someone I know. I sent her to those people because she needed someone to take care of her," she narrated.

Ibraheem recalled that when she was dealing with labor pains, the head of the prison repeatedly asked her to recite the Shahada, the Islamic declaration of faith, so that she could be released from prison and taken to a hospital.

"I didn't want to say that. I am not going to lie. My kids are not going to respect their mom if I did something like that," she said.

Ibraheem eventually gave birth to her daughter Maya at the medical clinic in the Omdurman Federal Women's Prison while she was in shackles. After her release, she met with Pope Francis who prayed over her daughter when she was just one-and-a-half month old.

She has launched her own charity organization, known as Mariam Ibraheem Charitable Foundation, to provide assistance to women and raise awareness about the persecution around the world.