Just one day after a Sudanese woman who was sentenced to die after refusing to recant her Christian faith was released from prison, she was reportedly rearrested Tuesday at an airport in Khartoum, CNN reported.
Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, 27, was stopped along with her husband, Daniel Wani, a U.S. citizen, and their two children and subsequently questioned, according to the woman's legal team.
Wani confirmed to CNN that he and his family were arrested and held at a national security office as they were trying to leave Sudan.
It is currently unclear why Ibrahim, Wani and their children were stopped, though it appears they were arrested by Sudan's infamous National Intelligence and Security Services.
FILE - In this file image made from an undated video provided Thursday, June 5, 2014, by Al Fajer, a Sudanese nongovernmental organization, Meriam Ibrahim, sitting next to Martin, her 18-month-old son, holds her newborn baby girl that she gave birth to in jail last week, as the NGO visits her in a room at a prison in Khartoum, Sudan. (AP Photo/Al Fajer, File)
"They are now in the detention of the National Security forces. The family were trying to leave Sudan for a safe place," her attorney Shareif Ali Shareif told the Daily Mail on Tuesday. "The children are with Meriam. They were arrested as well."
He continued: "We don't have any information about what charges they face. But the National Security force does not have to take them to court. This is not a criminal matter, it a national security matter."
The outlet went on to describe the National Intelligence and Security Services as a group that doesn't operate through the courts and that can detain prisoners for an indefinite amount of time.
Amnesty International has dubbed the group "agents of fear," accusing the government organization of engaging in "killings, torture, arbitrary detentions, and mental and physical intimidation against opponents and critics of the government."
Al-Samani Al-Hadi, a man claiming to be Ibrahim's brother, lambasted Monday's decision to release her, saying that Christians had tarnished his family's honor — and that he and his relatives will "know how to avenge it." Ibrahim has denied that the two are related in court, according to CNN.
"The family is unconvinced by the court's decision. We were not informed by the court that she was to be released; this came as a surprise to us," Al-Hadi said. "The law has failed to uphold our rights."
Ibrahim was first arrested and charged with adultery in August 2013 and was later charged with apostasy in February 2014 after she said she was a Christian and not a Muslim, according to the BBC.
Daniel Wani and his wife (Image source: Gabriel Wani/Facebook)
She became a Christian after her father, a Muslim, abandoned her family. Her Ethiopian mother, a Christian, then raised her and she adopted her mother’s faith. Ibrahim later married a Christian man named Daniel Wani, a U.S. citizen.
As TheBlaze reported Monday, Ibrahim recently delivered a baby girl last month while incarcerated; her 18-month-old son had also stayed with her in prison.
Shariah law in Sudan requires that children follow their father’s faith. Originally, Ibrahim was sentenced to 100 lashes for adultery, since her marriage to a Christian is not permitted under the law, according to the New York Daily News.
The case has sparked international outrage.
(H/T: CNN)
