Meriam Ibrahim to be freed

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Meriam Yahya Ibrahim, who was sentenced to death in Sudan after she married a Christian man, is to be freed, a Sudanese foreign ministry official has said.

The decision comes after the Sudanese government faced mounting pressure from the international community over her "barbaric" treatment.

Abdullahi Alzareg, an under-secretary at the foreign ministry, said the county was committed to protecting the woman and guaranteed religious freedom.

Ms Ibrahim, raised a Christian by her mother, was ruled by a judge to have turned her back on Islam and convicted of apostasy, because her father was a Muslim.

As well as marrying a Christian man, the 27-year-old doctor had refused to renounce her Christian faith.

Sentenced to death while eight months pregnant, Ms Ibrahim gave birth to her baby daughter Maya this week while shackled in heavy chains in the hospital wing of Omdurman Women's Prison.

The judge annulled the Christian marriage and Ms Ibrahim was sentenced to an additional 100 lashes for adultery because her union was deemed illegitimate under Islamic law.

-The Independent