Daniel & Meriam
Daniel & Meriam

Updated Monday 2nd June 2014:

There will be a witness for Meriam Ibrahim outside the Sudanese Embassy from 2pm to 4pm on Friday 6th June 2014.

This is despite false reports of Meriam’s imminent release (see below).

The address of the Sudanese Embassy is 3 Cleveland Row, St. James, London SW1A 1DD (Check the map by clicking on the postcode – it opens in a new window or link automatically).

The nearest tube is Green Park. Turn right out of the station and walk down St James’ St to Cleveland Row. Note that the Embassy is within the congestion charge zone, so best come by tube or bus.

Meriam Ibrahim is the Christian Sudanese doctor sentenced to death and to 100 lashes for apostasy, that is converting from Islam to Christianity, and for adultery, that is marrying a man who is not a Muslim. Despite Meriam being brought up by her mother as a Christian, she counts as Muslim according to Sudanese law because her father was Muslim.

The Sudanese Embassy in Cleveland Row
The Sudanese Embassy in Cleveland Row

Meriam has just given birth to a daughter in prison and has a 2-year-old son by her husband, Daniel Wani.  The Court says she must stay in prison for two years to nurse her baby and will then be executed.  It is not know when the flogging is scheduled.

The Sudan court decision has at last been condemned by all UK political leaders, but to our knowledge, no-one has yet taken a protest to the Embassy itself.  To spare a few hours on a Friday afternoon will be the least we can do.

A couple of hours after we posted our call to witness on Saturday 31st May, a Sudanese government foreign-office official was reported as saying that Meriam would be released ‘within days’.  This apparent swift answer to prayer was dashed within a day.  The official had no authority to make such a statement, her husband said he had heard nothing, and her lawyer says the judicial process must be gone through before any release.

Pastor James McConnell was recently reported for ‘hate speech’ for describing Islam as ‘heathen’ and ‘satanic’ and a doctrine ‘spawned in hell’.

Peter Robinson, Northern Ireland First Minister, sprang to Pastor O’Connell’s defence.

But Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers condemned Mr McConnell’s remarks.  She said: ‘It’s a matter for the first minister how he responds to these remarks – people obviously have different perspectives. For myself, I do condemn the remarks made by Pastor McConnell and don’t believe they are justified – Islam is a peaceful religion’.

So how are the Sudanese courts and rulers, and I am confident any survey would find the population of Sudan in support of them, exhibiting the peaceful aspects of this ‘peaceful religion’? Perhaps you could ask your MP to ask her that question.

It would be interesting to know how Muslims in the UK view the death sentence on Meriam Ibrahim.  It is hard to find any comment, let alone condemnation, about her treatment from the Muslim Council of Britain or any other British Muslim group.

The Sudanese Embassy website has an article opposing ‘Islamophobia’.  Acts such as the brutal sentence passed by Sudan on Meriam Ibrahim only fuel British people’s misgivings about Islam.

The Ambassador of the Republic of the Sudan to United Kingdom and Ireland is His Excellency Abdullahi H A El Azreg.

The UK indirectly gives aid to Sudan.  Your MP may be contacted via the Parliament Website.

 

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23 COMMENTS

  2. All three major monotheist religion are violent in equal manner. Violence is in the root of their belief. Monotheism is way of religiosity that teaches intolerance and sectarianism for it accepts no other way to see things, but their way only. All true Christians, Muslim, and Jewish religious people believe God has a especial deal with them, and they all have to accomplish a God’s mission. To accomplish that “mission” God authorizes them to be violent if necessary. The bible, for example, tells believers to be ready to kill their own brother if he talk about other Gods. Jesus is “quoted” demanding his follower to be ready to leave their own family to be a true believer, and in a “parabola” . Jesus said to decapitate in front of him those who did not accept him as their King. Kill disbelievers wherever you find them. Says the Quran. I am not mentioning violence against women in all these three religion. You do your research and be prepared to be disgusted.
    So to say that one religion is more violent than the other is not a fare statement for they all are the same. You could say that in one country at a particular time one religion is more violent than the other, but in general, they all demand violence from the true believers.

    • Preposterous. Jews and Christians are not ‘authourised to be violent’. Your post 9-11 problem, which you share with all fanatical atheists, is that you have to maintain that ‘all religions are the same’ so you cannot allow any difference between Islam and the others (although Hinduism is fairly blood-thirsty and Buddhism has its moments). Simplistic, intellectually-lightweight thinking helps no-one.

    • “I am a Christian” Jesus told us that the second most important thing that we can do, second only to loving God with all of our heart, soul and mind, is to ‘love thy neighbour’. There are no conditions to this rule. It’s plain and simple; easy enough to understand: we must love everyone, regardless of race, religion, or sexuality. As long as everybody can understand that different Religion’s are just using different “vehicles” for the same destination; GOD, there is no reason why we should not live side by side in peace.

  3. It is such a lie when people go around spouting the words “Islam is a peaceful religion”, wilfully ignoring all evidence to the contrary such as this incident with Meriam. These people simply don’t know what they are talking about. You only have to look at the words written in the Koran to see that Islam is not a peaceful religion. For example:

    Al-baqara 2:191 “And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out. Al-Fitnah [disbelief] is worse than killing…”

    Al-maida 5:45 “Life for life, eye for eye, nose or nose, ear for ear, tooth for tooth, and wounds equal for equal”

    Compare this to Christ’s teaching such as Matthew 5:38-44, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also……You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

    Which of these sounds more like the divine, merciful, loving and true wisdom of God?

    Pastor O’Connell was right to say those things about Islam and I for one am fed up of ridiculous political correctness preventing the truth from being spoken freely.

    • Islam has borrowed some Judeo-Christian teaching but introduced some gratuitously Jihadist stuff of its own. Surah 2:191 belongs to the latter category and Surah 5:45 to the former.

      The Lord Jesus is using the restorative justice principle to introduce a personal teaching, which is the theme of his wonderful Sermon on the Mount. But nearly all of it is directly from the Old Testament, as you would expect from the Son of God. ‘Love your enemy’ is an Old Testament principle:

      Exodus 23:4 If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.

      The striking on the right cheek is interesting. The only way a right-handed person can slap a man on his right cheek is with a back-handed slap, such as might be given to a slave. If you offer him the other cheek, you invite him to treat you as an equal. So there is a sting in the tail (so to speak) in ‘offering the other cheek’.

      ‘An eye for an eye’ was commonly commuted into money, so an ‘eye’s worth’ was paid for the loss of an eye. (The only penalty that could not be so satisfied was the death penalty for murder – see Numb 35:31.) These verses give an idea of the restorative justice principle involved:

      Exodus 21:18 And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed: 19 If he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.

      Here is something to aspire to:

      Psalm 119:97 MEM. O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
      Psalm 119:113 SAMECH. I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love.
      Psalm 119:163 I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love.
      Psalm 119:165 Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.
      (Although our word ‘law’ does not adequately convey the extent of the Hebrew word ‘Torah’ with its additional meanings of instruction and teaching.)

  4. I thought you might respond like that Stephen 🙂 I know you disagree with me on this one, but I believe that Christ did change things when he came. He himself said “A _new_ command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

    In saying this I’m not suggesting that God is changeable, only that He taught us a new way when the world was ready. Sometimes I think you try to read too much into things in your quest to align the New testament with the old, such as this thing with the back-handed slap. For me Christ’s message here is simple and clear: don’t take personal revenge and love and pray for your enemies. In showing such an example of mercy, humility and love to your enemies you are indirectly teaching them about Christ, spreading Christ’s message, and hopefully the result of this will be that they turn to Him. After all, the most important thing is saving souls, not sorting out earthly struggles.

    • I totally agree that a personal message is intended in the Sermon on the Mount, and the ‘New Commandment’ is given to the Apostles, and by extension the whole church, not to the world. But again, the ‘New Commandment’ is built on the Old Testament, on ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself’. And what is ‘new’ about it is the context of service exemplified by the washing of the feet of those who would normally be considered sub-servient.

  5. What an amazing witness for the Lord Jesus. Praise God for Meriam, for not renouncing or telling lies as some pathetic atheists would want her to do. Sorry I cannot manage the protest on Friday as I live in Aberdeen, but I phoned the embassy and called the decision to pass on the death sentence as cruel. The silence from the Muslim people in the UK shows who they support. Also, Stephen, had this been a gay man the media in the UK would have picked up on the story from day one, rather they reported it many months later. keep up the good work by proclaiming the good news of Jesus.

  6. It is a pity that people can’t concentrate on the case itself. The fact that Meriam Ibrahim has been sentenced to death is an absolute atrocity. One does not have to be a Christian to recognise her courage in refusing to renounce her faith, nor does one have to be a Christian to be appalled by a law that would kill people for changing their religion.

    I believe that people of good will, whether religious or not, would support Meriam Ibrahim. This means working together to pressure the Sudanese Government to change its mind.

  9. Her half brother was interviewed on CNN – you can find it on the Telegraph website. He was the one who launched the case against her. Interesting that he can use Islam to justify seeking to have his sister executed in order to gain her money – she is a Doctor who also run profitable business which he can acquire under Islamic inheritance . This element of Shira law is to be permitted in England .
    The Sudan Embassy in London has removed their original statement on this case. And seem to have closed their Facebook page after it had visitors comments such as a plea for mercy by a German doctor. We can not trust our own rulers who make pretend promises so more so these people they are devious and may be playing for time with the story dropped from the international press.
    I assume the UK does not give aid money to repressive regimes such as North Korea are we to go on giving Sudan 60.million a year.
    The only case of a Muslim figure in the UK protesting this was in The Guardian . From the rest silence say a lot. . Maybe its worth contacting such as http://www.muslimnews.co.uk As for the Muslim Council – well the British Government have dropped links to this set up. The recently offered to negotiate over the kidnapped Nigerian school girls. Much as Garry Addams might have done with the IRA.