Miriam Yahya Ibrahim and Husband, Daniel Wani Because the New Testament was written to persecuted believers, it is filled with examples of how to pray for our brothers and sisters under attack.
Here are 5 examples from Ephesians:
- Please pray persecuted believers would know the hope God gives (Ephesians 1:8).
- Pray the Holy Spirit would strengthen them (Ephesians 3:16).
- Please pray persecuted believers would know how much God loves them (Ephesians 3:17)
- Pray they would know how to share the gospel (Ephesians 6:19).
- Please pray persecuted believers would fearlessly tell others about Jesus (Ephesians 6:20)
How To Pray For The Persecuted Church, by Evangeline Vergo, Cru.org
Please also read:
Is Meriam Ibrahim's Incarceration Legal? posted June 9th at One Saint.
Obama Still Dragging His Muslim Feet? posted June 7th at One Saint.
Please Sign To Free Meriam And Her Babies, posted June 7th at One Saint.
Meriam Ibrahim's Death Sentence Condemned By U.S. Senate, posted June 7th at One Saint.
Obama, Why Are You So Quiet, posted June 5th at One Saint.
Obama Has No Time For Meriam Ibrahim, posted June 4th at One Saint.
Meriam And Children Will Not Be Freed, posted June 3rd at One Saint.
Meriam And Babies Still Behind Bars, posted June 2nd at One Saint.
May The Lord Protect And Keep Meriam, Her Husband And Her Children, posted May 31st at One Saint.
Please Help Meriam Ibrahim, posted May 20th at One Saint.
Christian Mother In Sudan, International Christian Concern, posted May 15th at One Saint.
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June 7th:
Release International's Prayer Alert
- Pray:
Please pray that God's peace, grace and presence will be with Meriam, Daniel and their children at this difficult time; ask Him to strengthen them and help them persevere. Pray that their witness will touch many lives in jail, and across the world.
Pray that the Sudanese authorities will show clemency and release Meriam and her children at once, without the need for an appeal hearing. - Act:
Please write a letter of encouragement to Meriam in jail. You might consider including some of the following in your letter: assurances of your prayer and support; congratulations on the birth of her daughter, Maya; praise for her brave stand and strong witness for Christ; the impact her testimony has had on your Christian walk. Send your letter to: Dr Meriam Yahia, Omdurman Prison for Women, P.O. Box 65, Omdurman, Sudan. Please do NOT mention Release International in your letter or say anything that is critical of the Sudanese authorities.
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June 2nd:
Lawyer: 'Absurd' That Christian Sudanese Mother Will Be Freed In Days; Family Has No Idea, by Leonardo Blair, The Christian Post
"Elshareef Ali Elshareef Mohammed, lawyer for Christian Sudanese mother Meriam Ibrahim, 27, who was sentenced to death for her faith, dismissed reports on Saturday that his client is expected to be released in a few days as "absurd," as her family has not been told there is any chance for her release.
"Mohammed made the revelation to Channel 4 News highlighting that Meriam is now being held in an overcrowded ward of a hospital prison, after giving birth in shackles last week. The ward he said is "not a proper place" for a new mother.
"Abdullah Alzareg, an under-secretary at the Sudan's foreign Ministry told the BBC that Meriam Ibrahim is expected to be released in a few days and that Sudan guaranteed religious freedom and vowed to protect the young mother.
"Mohammed explained to Channel 4 News that any decision to release Meriam has to come from an appeal court and it takes months, not days, to process an appeal. He added that when Alzareg made the statement of Meriam's release, he was visiting the UK at the moment and noted: "One person in the UK (the official) saw the UK media, and wanted to stop the campaign (for her release)."
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May 27th:
What Horror, This at One Saint's Crown Of Life Blog
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May 27th:
Meriam Ibrahim, Pregnant Christian Woman Sentenced To Death Gives Birth To A Baby Girl, by Steven Ertelt, Life News
"Meriam Ibrahim, the pregnant Christian woman to death for refusing to accept Islam, has given birth to a baby girl.
"The mother sentenced to death in Sudan for her Christian faith gave birth to a baby girl in prison today, the Daily Mail reported in an exclusive. Meriam , who has spent four months shackled to the floor of a cell, delivered the baby five days early in the hospital wing at Omdurman Federal Women’s Prison in North Khartoum.
“'This is some good news in what has been a terrible ordeal for Meriam,” lawyer Mohaned Mustafa Elnour told the newspaper. “I am planning to visit her with her husband Daniel later today. I think they are going to call the baby Maya.”
“'They didn’t even take Meriam to a hospital – she just delivered inside a prison clinic,” the lawyer told The Telegraph. “Neither her husband nor I have been allowed to see them yet.”
"In a heart-wrenching conversation with her husband during a rare prison visit, Meriam told him: ‘If they want to execute me then they should go ahead and do it because I’m not going to change my faith.’
"She told him: ‘I refuse to change. I am not giving up Christianity just so that I can live.
"‘I know I could stay alive by becoming a Muslim and I would be able to look after our family, but I need to be true to myself.’
"An Islamic court sentenced Meriam, 27, to be flogged for adultery for marrying a Christian man and to be hanged to death for refusing to renounce her Christian faith. Meriam was eight-months pregnant with her second child at the time of the sentencing, has been imprisoned along with her 20-month old toddler since February..."
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May 26th:
Sudan Faces International Pressure To Release Pregnant Woman Sentenced To Death, by Steven Ertelt, Life News
SIGN THE PETITION! Save Meriam Ibrahim, Don’t Hang her to Death for Her Faith
Now, as the London Guardian newspaper reports, Sudan is facing heavy international criticism.
- Governments, the UN and human rights groups have called on the Sudanese government to immediately release Meriam Yahya Ibrahim, 27, and overturn both her death sentence and sentence of 100 lashes. More than 100,000 people have backed a call by Amnesty International to release Ibrahim.
- Her lawyers have lodged an appeal against the sentence, which may be heard in Khartoum this week.
- Ibrahim has been told that her execution will be deferred for two years to allow her to deliver and then wean her baby.
- Her husband, Daniel Wani, who left Sudan for the US in 1998, has travelled to Khartoum to try to secure the release of his wife and son. He said Ibrahim was being denied medical treatment and he had not been allowed to visit her or Martin, according to media reports.
- The Sudanese authorities have reportedly refused to release the child to his father’s care because of his Christian faith.
- The UK government has summoned Sudan’s chargé d’affaires in London to the Foreign Office to hear its “deep concern”.
- In a statement, Foreign Office minister Mark Simmonds said: “This barbaric sentence highlights the stark divide between the practices of the Sudanese courts and the country’s international human rights obligations.” The Sudanese government must respect the right to freedom of religion or belief, he added.
- US senators Kelly Ayotte and Roy Blunt have raised the case with the secretary of state, John Kerry, calling for “immediate action and full diplomatic engagement to offer Meriam political asylum and secure her and her son’s safe release”.
- The department’s spokeswoman,, Jen Psaki, said on Wednesday the US was “deeply disturbed” by the case and called on Khartoum to respect the right to freedom ofreligion. The Canadian and Dutch governments have also expressed concern.
- The UN has also urged Sudan to adhere to international law. “We are concerned about the physical and mental wellbeing of Ms Ibrahim, who is in her eighth month of pregnancy, and also of her 20-month-old son, who is detained with her at the Omdurman women’s prison near Khartoum, reportedly in harsh conditions,” said Rupert Colville of the UN Human Rights Office in Geneva.
- Gabriel Wani, Daniel’s brother, who also lives in Manchester, New Hampshire, said Ibrahim was in poor physical shape. “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,” he told the Daily Mail
- “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.”
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May 23rd:
Meriam Ibrahim faces death. Martin, her American toddler, is imprisoned and sick.
He could lose his mother and be turned over to the very radical Islamists who hung her.
A judge in Sudan ordered Meriam to renounce her Christian faith or die. She's refused, saying, "I will remain a Christian."
She's pregnant, and once her American baby is born, she'll be flogged and then executed.
Prayer and public pressure are Meriam and her American children's only hope.
Already over 200,000 have signed our petition for her freedom.
We're working directly at the U.N. and with Members of Congress to save her life.
This is a death penalty case. Your voice can make the difference, but time is of the essence. Tomorrow is the last day to sign before we send our letter to Sudan.
Sign Our Urgent Petition Today: Save Meriam.
Jay Sekulow
ACLJ Chief Counsel
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May 22nd:
Obama Administration's Silence On Pregnant Christian Woman Sentenced To Death Is Deafening, by Tony Perkins, Life News
"The President’s team can hardly afford another scandal, but that’s exactly what they’ll have on their hands if the U.S. State Department insists on ignoring the plight of an American family in Sudan.
"For three months, a young Christian wife — now almost eight and a half months pregnant — has been shackled in a Sudanese prison on death row. Authorities, who refuse to recognize her marriage to a Christian man, have sentenced her to 100 lashes for adultery and execution for her faith.
"As if that weren’t horrifying enough, her stateside husband, Daniel Wani, an American citizen, says their 20-month-old toddler is behind bars with her, enduring unspeakable horrors at the hands of the oppressive Sudanese. Her frantic husband, who continues to plead with the U.S. Embassy for help, flew from New England to Khartoum to visit his wife, Meriam Ibrahim — and was beside himself to find her bound up and swollen. For now, authorities refuse to release his son to Daniel, because of his faith. Although the court gave Meriam days to recant her Christianity, she refused, saying, “I am a Christian, and I will remain a Christian.'”
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May 21st:
Senators Urge Obama Admin To Help 8-Month-Pregnant Woman Sentenced To Death For Rejecting Islam, by Steven Ertelt, at Life News
"The London Daily Mail has more on Ibrahim’s 20-month-old son who is also jailed with her and her her family:
- Martin Wani, the son of an American citizen, bites his bottom lip and stares at the camera with no idea of the terrible fate which awaits mother Meriam Ibrahim.
- The 20-month-old spends his days sitting next to her in their cell while Meriam, who is eight months’ pregnant with her second baby is held in shackles.
- 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 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.
- Meriam was thrown in jail in September and earlier this month was sentenced to death for
- However, MailOnline can reveal that the first time that she even knew she was a ‘Muslim’ was when the she was first accused last summer because she had been raised a Christian her whole life.
- Her father left her family when he 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.
- ‘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."
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May 21st:
An American boy - a toddler - suffers in prison as his mother is shackled to her cell on death row. This 20-month-old boy - a U.S. citizen - is sick from the prison conditions.
Last week, Meriam Ibrahim, a pregnant Christian woman, was sentenced to hang in Sudan for her faith.
After she has her baby, who will be a U.S. citizen, she will be tortured - beaten with 100 lashes for marrying an American Christian. Then she will be hung for being a Christian.
If we do nothing, she will die. Her American kids will be turned over to radical Islamists.
At the ACLJ, we're fully engaged at the U.N., in Washington, and across the globe for their freedom.
In 24 hours, 100,000 signed our petition to free Meriam and her American son. Pressure and prayer are the only things that will keep her alive. Be heard.
Sign the Petition at our Be Heard Project: Save Meriam Today.
Jordan Sekulow
ACLJ Executive Director
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May 19th:
Persecution On The Rise In Sudan, by Katey Hearth, Mission Network News
"This tale of persecution is so unjust that even the secular news outlets are picking it up. Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, a 27-year-old woman in Sudan who is 8-months pregnant, has been sentenced to death for being a Christian. On top of that, Sudan’s Islamic courts sentenced Ibrahim to 100 lashings for “adultery” because she’s married to a Christian man: a union considered illegitimate under Sharia law.
"This case quickly drew negative attention last week from human rights organizations and foreign embassies. Ibrahim is being denied hospitalization for her difficult pregnancy, and her 20-month-old son is “always getting sick due to lack of hygiene and bugs” in the prison, Ibrahim’s attorney told CNN.
"Though shocking, the court’s ruling is part of a larger trend, says Matt Parker, Executive Vice President of Kids Alive International."
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May 16th:
Given 72 Hours To Renounce Jesus, Sudanese Mom Refuses, Is Sentenced To Flogging Then Death, by Rob Kerby, Christian Headlines
"Refusing an Islamic judge’s offer of clemency if she would publicly deny her faith Jesus Christ, a pregnant Sudanese mother of a toddler has been sentenced to death.
“'Sudanese doctor Meriam Yahya Ibrahim, 27, a graduate of the University of Khartoum Medical School, is the beautiful wife of an American,” reports Faith J. H. McDonnell, writing for the Counter-Jihad Report.“ After she refused to renounce Christianity, Sudan’s Public Order Court sentenced her to receive a public flogging of 100 lashes, then to be put to death by hanging.
"The heavily pregnant Ibrahim “faces the death penalty for allegedly converting from Islam to Christianity,” reports the Catholic Herald. “In a case widely condemned around the world and described as ‘abhorrent’ by Amnesty International, a court in El Haj Yousif Khartoum, confirmed the death sentence on Dr. Meriam Yehya Ibrahim Ishag after she refused to abandon her faith.”
"Ibrahim denies the charges and told the court in March that she is a life-long Christian, “showing her marriage certificate as proof,”noted the Herald, “and stating that she was born in western Sudan to a Sudanese Muslim father and an Ethiopian Orthodox mother. Her father left the family when Ibrahim was six years old and she was raised a Christian.”
"However, Judge Abbas Mohammed Al-Khalifa refused to hear that defense. “Three potential witnesses who came to testify to this effect were prevented from giving evidence,” reported the Herald.
"The judge convicted her of apostasy and adultery, according to the Sudan Tribune. Her husband is American citizen Daniel Wani, a Christian who lives in New Hampshire.
“'Under Sudan’s Islamic Shari’a law, a Muslim woman is not permitted to marry a non-Muslim man, thus any such marriage is considered adulterous,” the Tribune reported.
"According to CNN, during her sentencing hearing, a sheikh told the court "how dangerous a crime like this is to Islam and the Islamic community," said her attorney Mohamed Jar Elnabi.
"'I am a Christian," Ibrahim fired back at the judge, "and I will remain a Christian."
"Elnabi says he plans to appeal the verdict. In the meantime, Ibrahim remains in prison with 20-month-old son, Martin.
"'She is very strong and very firm. She is very clear that she is a Christian and that she will get out one day," Elnabi told CNN."
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