One Saint
  • Home
  • Jesus Said
    • Matthew
    • Mark
    • Luke
    • John
    • Acts
    • I Corinthians
    • II Corinthians
    • Revelation
  • One Saint Blogs
    • Annie
    • All Saints
    • Eschatology
    • One Saint
    • David
    • Askakido
  • The Persecuted Church
    • Prayer
    • Crown of Life
  • Library
  • MP3s
    • Mystery Babylon
    • Pastors, Ministers and Priests
    • Run from the Devil
    • Miscellaneous Teachings
  • Music
    • Music of Heaven
    • Handel's Messiah
    • Miscellaneous Music >
      • Musical Library XXIII
      • Musical Library XXII
      • Musical Library XXI
      • Musical Library XX
      • Musical Library XIX
      • Musical Library XVIII
      • Musical Library XVII
      • Musical Library XVI
      • Musical Library XV
      • Musical Library XIV
      • Musical Library XIII
      • Musical Library XII
      • Musical Library XI
      • Musical Library X
      • Musical Library IX
      • Musical Library VIII
      • Musical Library VII
      • Musical Library VI
      • Musical Library V
      • Musical Library IV
      • Musical Library III
      • Musical Library II
      • Musical Library I
  • Video
    • Acts Of The Apostles
    • Albert Einstein On God
    • Ancient Aliens Debunked
    • DR S M Lockridge, Full Sermon
    • Enoch
    • Genesis
    • Gospel Of John
    • Gospel Of Luke
    • Gospel Of Matthew
    • Greatest Biblical Archaeological Discoveries Of All Time
    • Heroic Men Of The Bible: Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob And Joseph
    • Isaiah
    • Jeremiah
    • King David
    • King Solomon
    • Leonard Ravenhill
    • One Saint
    • Paul, The Apostle
    • Rabbi Jonathan Cahn
    • Revelation, The Book
    • Revelation, The Movie
    • Roger Morneau
    • Ruth
    • Secrets In Plain Sight
    • Sermon On The Mount
    • That's My King!
    • The Bride, The Beast & Babylon
    • The Cross And The Switchblade
    • The Jesus Movie
    • The New Age, The Enemy Of Christ Exposed
  • Links

A Call To Action

7/31/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture






International Christian Concern

2020 Pennsylvania Ave. NW #241
Washington, D.C. 20006

www.persecution.org
  |  E-mail: icc@persecution.org
A Call to Action: Sudan in the Wake of Meriam Ibrahim
As Sudan's Most Infamous Victim of Persecution Makes Her Way to Freedom, Thousands More Remain in Sudan

Cameron Thomas, Regional Manager for Africa

07/30/2014
Washington, D.C.

International Christian Concern

With wide smiles, Meriam Ibrahim and her family shook hands with Pope Francis, posed for photographs, and-for the first time in months-laughed as free people. Thursday, relief swept over millions as international press cables wired reports of an Italian aircraft flying, through the dark of night, from Khartoum to Rome.

For the family on board: from oppression, to freedom.

A 27-year-old mother of two and wife to an American citizen, Meriam was imprisoned in February, sentenced to death for her Christian faith in May, rearrested a day after her court-ordered release and acquittal in June, and finally set free Wednesday of last week. For everyone involved, from Meriam and her family, to the religious freedom and human rights advocates striving for Meriam's freedom, to the international press covering their case, it was a summer of high and lows.

In the wake of one of the most widely-publicized Christian persecution cases ever, many questions remain: why has the United States (U.S.) still not recognized the citizenship of Meriam's two children, Martin and Maya?  Why were the Ibrahims released into the custody of the Italian government, and not that of the U.S.? And why did neither Secretary of State Kerry nor President Obama speak Meriam's name publicly until after she was safely in Rome?

In November of 2013, Meriam's husband Daniel Wani, a South Sudanese Christian with U.S. citizenship, approached the U.S. embassy in Khartoum to request documentation of his son, Martin's, citizenship. Not only was that request denied, possibly in violation of U.S. immigration law (Sec. 301 of the Immigration and Nationality Act), Daniel claims he was treated with utter disrespect. In a phone conversation with ICC, Daniel said that despite having "provided wedding documents and the baby's birth certificate," the embassy's "doors were closed in his face."

Three months later, Martin-just 18-months-old at the time-was imprisoned with his mother for 126 days.

In a conversation with CNN in May, the Ibrahims' legal defense lamented Martin's imprisonment, saying, "he is very affected from being trapped inside a prison from such a young age."

To be clear, Martin should never have been imprisoned for his mother's faith. Nowhere should conversion to or from any religion be considered criminal. And so while an investigation into whether or not the U.S. embassy in Khartoum violated immigration laws should be launched-with full recognition of the consequences of its decision to deny Martin his rightful citizenship-Sudan's refusal to recognize the human right to free religious practice must be condemned as solely responsible for the Ibrahims' plight.

While the scourge of international outcry and government sanctions should continue to be levied against Sudan for sentencing a pregnant mother to death for her Christian faith, the decision by the Khartoum Court of Appeals to release and acquit Meriam should be applauded. Similarly, many thanks must be given to the Ibrahims' legal defense, every member of which has received a threat against his life for defending religious freedom over the application of Sharia law.

Representative of many others in and beyond Khartoum, the Ibrahims' legal defense in many ways exemplifies the struggle for religious freedom in increasingly closed societies. Following South Sudan's succession in 2011, President Hassan Omar al-Bashir-indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in 2005-pledged to transform Sudan into a "purely Islamic" society. In the years since, the Sudanese regime has forcibly closed Bible schools, demolished churches, and, as of this month, placed a moratorium on the construction of all new churches.

And yet, in spite of a global spotlight having been cast on his commission of gross human rights abuses against his own people, al-Bashir is pursuing his policies of Islamization and Arabization with a renewed vigor: state-sponsored bomb raids continue to decimate the peoples of the Nuba Mountains as state-backed proxy-militias massacre civilians in Blue Nile and South Korofan states; Christians and other religious minorities are subjected to the dictates of Sharia law and relegated to the bottom of Sudanese society as second-class citizens; and the United Nations and other international monitors continue to be denied access to document the many systemic human rights and religious freedom abuses the Sudanese people face at the hands of their government.

Regrettably, Meriam Ibrahim is but one of far too many suffering in Sudan for the expression of their faith, or the color of their skin.

In a recent hearing of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, Senior Policy Advisor for the Enough Project, Omer Ismail, testified that "many Sudanese Christians complain about discrimination in getting jobs or in the workplace...in addition to a general atmosphere of intimidation and intolerance." Ismail went on to conclude that in the hands of "the genocidal regime in Khartoum...the fate of close to a million Muslims, Christians and practitioners of indigenous religions and other faiths is in jeopardy."

In the wake of Meriam's release, acquittal and long-overdue departure from Sudan, the world must continue to spotlight the oppression of the Sudanese people. Those who stood up and spoke out for Meriam must also speak out for the tens of thousands of Christians still suffering for their faith in and beyond Khartoum. Human rights and faith-based organizations have to continue to document abuses on the basis religious preference or ethnic identity, and to provide critical aid. And the coalition of governments and international bodies that publicly condemned the fate of Meriam Ibrahim must utilize every resource to bring Sudan in-line with international standards for human rights and religious freedom.

For interviews, contact Cameron Thomas, Regional Manager for Africa:  RM-Africa@persecution.org  

# # #

You are free to disseminate this news story. We request that you reference International Christian Concern (ICC) and include our web address, www.persecution.org. ICC is a Washington D.C.-based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC provides Awareness, Advocacy, and Assistance to the worldwide persecuted Church. For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.    
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    Crown of Life Blog

    Picture
    The Martyrdom of ST Stephen, Pietro da Cortona, 1660

    News and Information about
    Persecuted Christians from all around the
    World

    Persecuted saints benefit most from your heartfelt and earnest prayer.

    Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial;
    for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him
    .
    James 1:12

    'Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the
    devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so
    that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
    Revelation 2:10

    New American Standard Bible 
    (NASB)

    Copyright © 
    1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971,
    1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995
    by
    The Lockman Foundation


    Picture

    HOW TO READ A PERSECUTION NEWS STORY

    Trials make the promise sweet;
    Trials give new life to prayer;
    Trials bring me to His feet,
    Lay me low, and keep me there.


    "God often takes away our comforts and our privileges in order to make us better Christians. He trains His soldiers not in tents of ease and luxury, but by turning them out and subjecting them to forced marches and hard service. He makes them ford through streams, and swim through rivers, and climb mountains, and walk many long miles with heavy backpacks of sorrow. Well, Christian, may this not account for the troubles through which you are passing? Is the Lord bringing out your graces and making them grow? Is it for this reason He contends with you?"

    Read Why Do I Face Trials?,
    by Alistair Begg, Truth for Life Daily, at One Place

    Christian persecution is just a phenomenon in the
    Middle East.

    Christians aren’t greatly
    impacted by persecution.

    Whatever persecution there is, the damage is superficial - more a loss of multicultural diversity than anything else.

    Christians supposedly bring persecution upon themselves by proselytizing.

    Persecution couldn’t
    happen here.

    Please read 5 Myths about Persecution of Christians, by
    Kristin Wright, at Religion Today.


    Share



    email the webmaster

    RSS Feed


    Archives

    January 2018
    November 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012


✕