The Sudanese mother who was sentenced to hang for refusing to give up her Christian faith, spoke in September for the first time about her ordeal, saying she never once considered giving in and that she made her stand on behalf of all those facing persecution around the world because of their religious beliefs.
Nearly two months after finally being allowed to flee her native country and taking refuge in the United States, Meriam Yahya Ibrahim, 27, said she had been subjected to intense daily pressure while in prison to accept conversion to Islam, but that she consistently refused to give in to her captors’ demands.
Right to choose
‘If I did that, it would mean that I gave up’, she said in the first interview given to a US television channel. ‘It’s my right to follow the religion of my choice. I am not the only one suffering from this problem. I put my life at risk for the women of Sudan and for Christians who live under difficult circumstances, persecuted and treated harshly. There are many Meriams in Sudan and throughout the world.’
