Martin is held by
his wheelchair-bound father Daniel Wani under the close watch of guards with
rifles slung over their shoulders after he flew from Manchester, New Hampshire
in a desperate bid to free his 20-months-old son and wife, Meriam Ibrahim from
a terrible fate in Sudan.
The heartbreaking
visit to the Khartoum prison was was the first time that Daniel was able to see
his wife since she was imprisoned.
Meriam is being held
in a prison notorious for chronic overcrowding and rampant disease. It can also
be disclosed that in her cell she has been left to bleed by the guards, she is
being given no medical attention and is having to eat prison food which is not
giving her the nutrients she needs for her unborn child.
Her family are
growing increasingly anxious as her first birth was difficult and there are
fears the second could be fatal if she goes into labor in such primitive
conditions.
She was also
sentenced to 100 lashes as the Sudanese court refuses to recognize her 2011
marriage to Daniel because her father was a Muslim.
Meriam is being held
in the Sudanese capital Khartoum also charged with apostasy because the
authorities claim she 'converted' to Christianity from Islam.
However, MailOnline
can reveal that the first time that she even knew she was a ‘Muslim’ was when
she was first accused last summer because she had been raised a Christian her
whole life.
Her father left her
family when she was six and her Christian mother divorced him. But judges have
decided that she should be worshipping Islam because of her father.
Her treatment has
been condemned by the governments of the US, the UK and the Netherlands but
unless she is pardoned Meriam, 27, a doctor, will be hanged in two years time.
Daniel has now made
a mercy dash back to Sudan to try and secure her release, his brother Gabriel
said.
He gave MailOnline
the picture of Martin which was taken by campaigners acting on the family’s behalf
in an attempt to get them freed.
When she was found
guilty around 50 people held up signs that read Freedom of Religion but some
Islamists celebrated the ruling chanting: 'God is Greatest'.
Meanwhile, inside
the women's prison, Meriam is being held in shackles.
Gabriel said:
‘Meriam is in a bad condition, she is eight months pregnant. She needs proper
medical attention and she needs medical supplies. She’s bleeding and nothing is being done.
‘She needs to eat
well but she is just getting the prison food. When she had her first son it was
a very difficult birth, she lost a lot of blood. She is supposed to have check ups with the doctor but it isn’t
happening. We are praying for a miracle.’
Gabriel, 43, a
father-of-three, said that his brother had put in an appeal against his wife’s
sentence and he was hopeful that with all the attention it would be granted.
He said: ‘This is not even the right court for handling the case. It does not belong in the District Court, it belongs in the Supreme Court. This is bad justice.
He said: ‘This is not even the right court for handling the case. It does not belong in the District Court, it belongs in the Supreme Court. This is bad justice.
‘The effect on me
has been hard. I was not sleeping in the beginning and now my brother Daniel is
having to calm me down, even though he is the one in Sudan. It’s just crazy we are in this situation.
‘What does it matter
what religion you believe? In Sudan there is supposed to be religious freedom
but there isn’t.’
Sitting in the
living room of his home in Manchester, New Hampshire, Gabriel explained that he
and his brother are hardworking people who came to the US in 1998 because they
wanted a better life for themselves and were fed up with the wars in Sudan.
Initially Daniel
studied at the University of New Hampshire and became a biochemical engineer
while Gabriel worked two jobs to support him and to send money back home.
Daniel became a US
citizen in 2005 and his brother followed suit the following year.
More recently
Gabriel has been working as a life coach for people with mental illnesses and
has been studying to become a welder.
They have three
sisters including one who is a high ranking official in the Sudanese
government.
Daniel got to know
Meriam thanks to another of their sisters who knew her through the small
Christian church they attended in Khartoum.
The sister played
matchmaker and got them talking on Skype, leading to Daniel flying from his
home in Manchester to Sudan to marry Meriam in 2011.
Daniel made a number
of visits to Sudan to make the arrangements for his wife and Martin to come to
America and on the last one, in June last year, things went awry.
Gabriel said: ‘There
was a man who claimed he was Meriam’s brother, but she had never seen him
before. He went to Meriam’s house and
wanted to know why she was not a Muslim. He went to the police and accused
Daniel of kidnapping his sister - he meant Meriam.
‘Daniel suffers from
muscular dystrophy and is in a wheelchair so said it was impossible for him to
kidnap her. He and Meriam were arrested
and thrown in jail. Daniel was released but Meriam has been in jail since
September.
‘We don’t know who
this man was. He could have just been trying to make himself seem important.
Under Shariah (Islamic) law in Sudan, if your
father was a Muslim then you are a Muslim, even if your mother was a Christian.
‘But Meriam never
knew her father - he left the family when she was six and was raised a
Christian by her mother - she is dead now.
‘The first time
Meriam knew about her father being a Muslim was when this happened. How could
she be a Muslim?’
During a court hearing
on March 4, Meriam said: ‘I am a Christian’ and showed her marriage
certificate, which explains that it took place in a Christian chapel in
Khartoum in 2012.
According to Morning
Star News, while in jail Muslim scholars have been coming to tell her to ‘turn
back’ to Islam.
One of the guards
has supposedly refused to allow visitors and it was only in the last few days
that her husband got to see her for the first time since September.
Other guards have
supposedly encouraged other female Muslims in the prison to make her feel
uncomfortable.
Daniel told Morning
Star News: ‘She is psychologically tired. My
wife was never a Muslim. As an American citizen, I ask the people and
government of the USA to help me.’
Gabriel explained
that Daniel and Meriam wanted to come to America and contribute to society.
She graduated from
the prestigious School of Medicine at Khartoum University and is a doctor,
while he has his biochemical engineering degree.
He said: ‘Daniel has a one-bedroom apartment here and they want to start a new life together. When their baby arrives they would like a two-bedroom house so they can have a bedroom for Martin.
‘They want a home and a garden, they want a normal life like everyone else’.
Gabriel claimed that his brother went to the embassy in Khartoum three times and was told each time that the American ambassador was ‘too busy’ to see him.
Daniel has also been offended that he could have to submit to a DNA test to prove that his son is his.
Martin was born in Sudan and may be entitled to a US passport because Daniel in a naturalized American citizen, though the process is complicated and not certain.
In her daily briefing on Tuesday, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that consular assistance may be provided to Meriam but it was not clear how.She said: ‘We have seen reports identifying him (Daniel) as a US citizen.
'We don’t have any Privacy Act waiver, so I don’t have any more details I can share.’
New Hampshire's
Senator Kelly Ayotte and fellow Republican Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri have
written to Secretary of State John Kerry asking for Meriam to be granted asylum
to the US.
But Miss Psaki said
that she did ‘the intricacies of the law’ when it came to giving asylum to
somebody like Meriam who is custody abroad.
In a statement, the
Department of State added that, among other requirements, any parent claiming
to be an American citizen must prove there is a ‘biological relationship’ with
their child for them to get the same consular privileges as they would.
Given that Martin
does not appear to have an American passport yet, this may be Daniel’s only way
of getting him the help he needs.
The statement said:
‘US regulation authorizes the Department to request whatever additional
evidence it may need to establish the US citizenship of a child born abroad to
a US citizen parent or parents, including DNA testing.
‘Such testing is
entirely voluntary. Submitting to testing does not guarantee the
subsequent issuance of a passport’
Daniel is not
allowed to take custody of Martin because he is Christian and the toddler is
considered by law to be a Muslim.
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