WUNRN
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
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.