WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

 

FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF REPORT 2015: IN PRISON FOR THEIR RELIGION OR BELIEFS – WOMEN & MEN

 

A report about 20 countries with religion or belief prisoners along with policy recommendations for the European Union specific to each country

 

Direct Link to Full 106-Page 2015 Report

http://hrwf.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Freedom-of-Religion-or-Belief-World-Report-2015-In-prison-for-their-religion-or-beliefs.pdf

 

 

Human Rights Without Frontiers - "The purpose of this report is to identify and put on the radar screen those states which criminalise certain activities related to freedom of religion or belief and imprison their citizens for the simple exercise of this freedom which is protected by the Universal Declaration."

Examples - WOMEN

TURKMENISTAN - The Case of Bibi Rahmanova

On 5th July, Bibi Rahmanova and her husband, Vepa Tuvakov, along with their son went to a train station in Dashoguz to pick up religious literature and personal possessions sent by a friend from Ashgabad. They were accosted by six police officers in plain clothes who demanded to see the contents of their bags. Finding a laptop computer and religious literature of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the police began to kick and beat her. On 8th August, Bibi Rahmanova was sent to prison on fabricated charges of ‘assaulting a policeman’ and ‘hooliganism.’ On 2nd September, she was freed from prison but not cleared of the charges.

 

SUDAN - The Most Famous Case is the Condemnation of the Christian Woman Meriam Ibrahim.

Mrs Ibrahim was arrested on 17th February 2014 after Sudanese authorities were made aware of her marriage to a Christian man. She was detained in Omdurman Federal Women's Prison along with her 20-month-old son. Mrs Ibrahim was charged with adultery under Article 146 and ‘apostasy’ under Article 126 of the Penal Code.

 

Mrs Ibrahim was born in western Sudan to a Sudanese Muslim father and an Ethiopian Orthodox mother. Her father left the family when she was six years old and she was subsequently brought up as a Christian by her mother. Under Sharia law in Sudan, Muslim women cannot marry non-Muslim men. Moreover, since Mrs Ibrahim’s father was a Muslim, she is considered to be a Muslim, rendering her marriage to Mr Wani invalid.

 

Mrs Ibrahim testified before the court on 4th March that she is a Christian, showing her marriage certificate, where she is classified as Christian, as proof of her religion.

 

On 11th May, the Public Order Court in El Haj Yousif Khartoum sentenced her to death for apostasy and 100 lashes for committing adultery.

 

On 27th May 2014 she gave birth to a baby girl at the prison clinic.

 

On 23rd June, Meriam Ibrahim and her two children were released from the prison in North Khartoum after an appeal court annulled the death sentence imposed to her. On the next day, about 40 security agents arrested and detained her at the Khartoum airport along with her husband Daniel Wani and their two children as they were preparing to leave for the United States with an American visa. Meriam was freed again after being briefly kept in custody on the condition that she remains in Sudan. The Sudan's National Security and Intelligence Authority lodged a complaint against Mrs Ibrahim accusing her of obtaining a fake travel document.

 

Finally, on 24th July, Meriam Ibrahim could leave the country. On her way to the United States, she stopped in Rome where Pope Francis met privately with her.