She has been convicted of adultery because she is considered a Muslim, and Muslim women are forbidden to marry non-Muslim men. She has likewise been condemned to death for apostasy because she declares herself a Christian even though her father was a Muslim. If her father was a Muslim, then she is, too, according to Islamic law. She has until the child is weaned, as per the example of Muhammad as depicted in this hadith.
“There came to him (the Holy Prophet) a woman from Ghamid and said: Allah’s Messenger, I have committed adultery, so purify me. He (the Holy Prophet) turned her away. On the following day she said: Allah’s Messenger, Why do you turn me away? Perhaps, you turn me away as you turned away Ma’iz. By Allah, I have become pregnant. He said: Well, if you insist upon it, then go away until you give birth to (the child). When she was delivered she came with the child (wrapped) in a rag and said: Here is the child whom I have given birth to. He said: Go away and suckle him until you wean him. When she had weaned him, she came to him (the Holy Prophet) with the child who was holding a piece of bread in his hand. She said: Allah’s Apostle, here is he as I have weaned him and he eats food. He (the Holy Prophet) entrusted the child to one of the Muslims and then pronounced punishment. And she was put in a ditch up to her chest and he commanded people and they stoned her.” (Sahih Muslim 17.4206)
“EXCLUSIVE – Wife set to hang for marrying Christian U.S. citizen gives birth to baby girl in squalid jail,” by Arthur Martin, Daily Mail, May 27, 2014:
A doctor who is facing execution in Sudan for marrying a Christian gave birth to a baby girl in prison today.
Meriam Ibrahim, who has spent the past four months shackled to the floor in a disease-ridden jail, gave birth five days early.
The baby was born in the hospital wing at Omdurman Federal Women’s Prison in North Khartoum and is said to be healthy.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, her lawyer Mohaned Mustafa Elnour said: ‘This is some good news in what has been a terrible ordeal for Meriam.
‘I am planning to visit her with her husband Daniel later today. I think they are going to call the baby Maya.’
Meriam, 27, was sentenced to death by hanging earlier this month after being found guilty of converting from Islam to Christianity and marrying a Christian man, U.S. citizen Daniel Wani, who lives in Manchester, New Hampshire.
She will receive 100 lashes before she is executed – sometime in the next two years.
Before the birth, Meriam made the defiant claim that she would rather die than give up her faith.
In a heart-wrenching conversation with her husband during a rare prison visit, Meriam told him: ‘If they want to execute me then they should go ahead and do it because I’m not going to change my faith.’
An Islamic Sharia judge said she could be spared the death penalty if she publicly renounced her faith and becomes a Muslim once more.
Meriam insists she has always been a Christian and told her husband she could not ‘pretend to be a Muslim’ just to spare her life.
She told him: ‘I refuse to change. I am not giving up Christianity just so that I can live.
‘I know I could stay alive by becoming a Muslim and I would be able to look after our family, but I need to be true to myself.’…
Daniel was in Khartoum trying to arrange for Meriam and their 20-month-old son Martin to live with him in the US when his wife was arrested in September. She was three weeks pregnant with their second child.
She has been held since February in Omdurman Federal Women’s Prison, North Khartoum, with Martin.
The authorities will not release Martin into the care of his father because they claim he is a Muslim too.
She spends much of her time shackled to the floor, is not receiving enough nutrition in her food to cope with the rigours of a difficult pregnancy and is rarely allowed outside.
Both she and her bewildered son have contracted various illnesses because of the poor sanitation at the jail.
A report by Human Rights Watch claims the prison is ‘beset with overcrowding’ and suffers from ‘poor sanitation, disease and the deaths of many children living with their mothers’.
Daniel, who is originally from South Sudan, but is now a naturalized American, was initially refused permission to visit her.
Describing his first visit after she had been inside for two months , he said: ‘The first time I only had ten minutes and we never even had a conversation with each other.
‘I had to attend to my son first and once I had done that I was told by the prison guards that my time was up.
‘I wanted to take Martin away with me, but I knew I couldn’t. It’s not good place to be for a little boy to be. I am not allowed to spent time with them because the Sudanese officials do not recognise them as my wife and son.
‘They say the marriage is void. Now, even my wife is no longer my wife. And my son is not mine and my new daughter is not mine. They say I am a stranger to them.
‘I know my wife puts on a brave face but I can tell that she is in quite a bit of pain. She doesn’t get to leave the room for weeks.
‘She has suffered medical complications while in jail, but no one knows the full extent of what they are because she is in prison. It’s a difficult time. To see her walking in chains is difficult.’
Daniel, who is wheelchair-bound because he suffers from muscular dystrophy, cuts a forlorn figure as he wheels himself around his empty house….