On Thursday, May 14, 2014, a Sudanese judge sentenced Mariam Ibraheem to death. Her crime? She's a Christian. Raised as a Christian by her Christian mother, the judge ruled her an apostate - a crime punishable by death in Sudan - simply because her father was Muslim.
Mariam gave birth to an American girl in the prison, and her son, a 20-month-old American toddler, languished with her in the prison. She had been sentenced to receive 100 lashes and then be executed for her faith. Faced with torture then death, Mariam remained courageously steadfast. The Sudanese judge gave her three days to recant her faith, but she refused, declaring that she was "never a Muslim" and will "remain a Christian." Mariam faced death for her faith, but on July 24, 2014, after hundreds of thousands spoke out on her behalf on Be Heard, after the ACLJ and many other Christian organizations fought for her freedom, she left Sudan with her family, free to come home to the United States. While so many Christians still face death in Sudan and elsewhere across the world, we are grateful that Mariam is safe and free to worship her Savior