Meriam
Ibrahim faces up to seven years in jail over new offences levelled at her by
the Sudanese regime..
The
mother-of-two was told the devastating news after being detained as she tried
to fly out of the African country hours after a death sentence against her was
dropped.
Dr Ibrahim,
27, was charged with obtaining a false travel document and giving false
information to immigration officials - and banned from leaving Sudan.
The move is
another twist of the knife as Dr Ibrahim tries to get to America with her two
children where she can live with her husband Daniel Wani, a US citizen, from
Manchester, New Hampshire.
Instead she
is back in a cell with her son Martin, 21, and daughter Maya, one month.
Mr Wani is
also locked up with them at the Al Sheradee police station in Khartoum after
being confronted at Khartoum airport by 40 agents of the feared National
Intelligence and Security Services.
It is
believed they were trying to travel to Washington DC and Sudanes media have
claimed that the US vice consul was with the family at the airport.
Mr Wani told
AFP: 'We are worried. that;s why we want to get out of here as soon as
possible.'
Dr Ibrahim’s
lawyer Shareif Ali Shareif told MailOnline: 'The authorities do not have the
right to hold her. They appear not to want to let her leave Sudan. They are
restricting her movements.
'Her husband
Daniel and the children are with her in the same cell. Any reports suggesting
she has been released are wrong. We need to highlight her plight.’
A diplomatic
row has now erupted and the Sudanese Foreign Ministry has summoned the American
and South Sudanese ambassadors to explain themselves.
Dr Ibrahim
had been granted emergency travel documents by the government of South Sudan to
travel there and then on to the US.
Mr Shareif
insisted that the documents were legitimate and that it was ‘not right’ to
claim otherwise.
Dr Ibrahim
was released from the grim Omdurman Women’s Prison on Monday after nine months
in custody during which time she was sentenced to death and 100 lashes for
apostasy and adultery and gave birth to Maya in her call whilst shackled to the
floor.
A judge had
ruled that she had broken strict Islamic law by failing to renounce her
Christian faith and become a Muslim.
On Monday an
appeal court overturned her conviction after an international outcry but on
Tuesday she and her family were detained again.
What happens
next is unclear - Dr Ibrahim has yet to be granted asylum by the US - but so
long as she remains in Sudan her life is in danger.
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