Urge Obama administration to act in release of Meriam Ibrahim and children
On May 22 I wrote about then-eight months pregnant Dr. Meriam Ibrahim, who is facing death by hanging in a Sudanese prison because she refuses to renounce her Christian faith for Islam.
Ibrahim has been further sentenced to receive 100 lashes for marrying a Christian man, Daniel Wani (wedding photo right). Wani is a naturalized American citizen.
The couple’s 20-month-old son Martin is imprisoned with his mother.
On May 27, Ibrahim gave birth early to daughter Maya while still shackled, reportedly. I can’t imagine. Here are the first photos released…
While it is possible the Obama administration has been working behind the scenes to secure the release of Ibrahim and her newborn baby and toddler, there is no outward display of outrage. As Shadow.ForeignPolicy.com noted:
We could speculate that the Obama administration’s reluctance to more forcefully rebuke heinous acts like this have allowed this kind of barbarity to survive and grow, but that is an argument for another day….
So far, the Obama administration has done too little diplomatically while leaving it to NGOs like the American Center for Law and Justice and Amnesty International to do the heavy lifting. A cause like Ibrahim’s should be trumpeted regularly; Obama should make it his cause by noting the nationality of her husband and child. He should excoriate the persecutors in clear and forceful terms. But even more than that, the president should affirm that those who commit these atrocities will never have the friendship of the United States. They might hold seats at the U.N. and on its Human Rights Council, but they cannot be trusted to keep faith with the Declaration’s principles, and that we will seek to thwart them until they reform. This stance would embolden our staunchest allies and shame into action our reluctant allies.
There is no room in the world for people who torture and kill women. We have come a long way toward stamping out the Dark Age brutality that was once the hallmark of state power, but that work is still far from done. The case of Meriam Ibrahim is exactly the kind of injustice that the Obama administration should stand against and prove that it is as committed as ever to that mission.
Feminists would also seem like natural defenders of Ibrahim, particularly since the ACLU, along with pro-abortion groups NARAL and Planned Parenthood, have championed opposition to the shackling of pregnant mothers in U.S. prisons.
But a Google search of all three groups, plus the National Organization for Women, shows no results for “Meriam Ibrahim.”
Why the reticence on the part of feminists to use their bully pulpit to draw attention to the plight of Ibrahim and her children? I can think of no other explanation than the groups are averse to Christianity. Were Ibrahim a Muslim shackled in a U.S. jail, I’m sure we would hear them roar.
Fortunately, the Family Research Council and Congressman Trent Franks have taken up Meriam’s cause.
FRC has launched a petition drive at WhiteHouse.gov, and if 100,000 sign it, Obama will be forced to issue a response. The petition notes that “a 2008 U.N. document reported as having an infant mortality rate of one per day in the summer” in Ibrahim’s prison, pictured right.
Congressman Franks has introduced H. R. 601, calling for Ibrahim’s release. Go here to send an email to your representative urging him or her to support this resolution.
[Photos of Ibrahim, her children, and the Khartoum prison all via The Daily Mail]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
If this woman were a lesbian, these three groups would be going ballistic.
I will definitely sign the petition.
Why the reticence on the part of feminists to use their bully pulpit to draw attention to the plight of Ibrahim and her children?
Because they’ve got more important problems to worry about. Like late-term abortion bans, male entitlement, and men not respecting women enough to lower the toilet seat.
Good to see Family Research Council up in arms? Where have they been while all those have been dying in wars there? Where has the whole world been?
As much as civil war sucks for those who endure it, the abuse of government powers to violate the basic human rights of innocent persons must always be opposed.
Yes Del – the civil war has been pretty inconvenient for all those have died. I think it’s a little beyond “sucks”.
Please work for the release of this strong, brave Christian woman & her children.
President Obama and Administration, Your response to this outrage is critical & needed. Respond now! Why do we have to wait for 100,000 to sign this???!!! Take action NOW!
What would people like our government to do? Invade?
This kind of thing happens on a daily basis all over Africa (and the rest of the world) for a host of reasons. If we interfere with one, we set an expectation that we must interfere with all. And showing up with guns and troops will accomplish nothing other than MORE dead bodies. My heart hurts for her like it does for the MILLIONS of other women and men and children who have been unjustly executed or jailed in Congo, The Sudan, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Chad, etc. etc. etc. But I would NEVER, EVER, even if it was my own family member, want the president to intervene in this kind of thing – it only causes more carnage.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/meriam-ibrahim-sudanese-woman-sentenced-to-hang-will-be-freed-in-a-few-days-9466994.html
Looks like the national attention helped.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
Hi Jack. How are you doing? I pray the report that you posted is correct. I have been praying for this woman and her children. I also signed the petition for her release when I first heard about this. I have to say that I won’t believe it until I see her freed because I do not trust these people. Any so called religion that who would sentence a pregnant woman to death for her faith (which she has confessed since her childhood, she was never a Muslim btw) whether that person is a Christian, Muslim, Hindu, etc. they should not have to endure such horrible treatment. Radical Islam and sharia law is a sick, repressive, hateful belief system. I will continue to pray until she is freed and brought to safety.
She will be free for two years to nurse her baby.
The sentence will then be carried out.
Mrs Ibrahim’s lawyers said they do not believe the offer is genuine, and is a ploy to silence the growing outcry.
Elshareef Ali Mohammed, one of her legal team, told the Telegraph: ‘It’s to silence the international media. This is what the government do. We will not believe that she is being freed until she walks out of the prison’.
I hope that the outcry helps (it did in Nigeria with the #bringbackourgirls campaign) (which, btw, was Nigerian started) but I am not sure what the President can do other than secure the release of the babies because they are American citizens.
What’s sad to me is that there is pain and outrage and horror and atrocities all the time, all over the world. American government cannot and should not step in in every case. What needs to happen is the people in that country need either legal teams or to have more stable governments. There are great organizations working to help situations like this. Sometimes, as in this case, the media/Americans will latch on to a particular case and in a sense that’s good, if it opens our eyes to the fact that the world is unstable and facing real problems.
But what about Pastor Saeed? I mean, he’s literally an American citizen, so why is Obama doing nothing about that situation, but he can send in troops to rescue the Nigerian girls?
I guess the squeaky wheel gets the grease, as they say. Still, in situations like this (and others) I don’t think people realize that President Obama can’t do much other than make a speech and maybe order some military action (but I doubt he can do that without the Joint Chiefs). And sending our soldiers into other countries isn’t always the answer.
False alarm. She’s not safe yet, unfortunately.
http://www.lifenews.com/2014/06/02/meriam-ibrahim-will-not-be-freed-attorneys-appeal-execution-to-interntional-court/