En sudansk dommer har torsdag dømt en kristen kvinde til døden for at konvertere fra islam til kristendommen. Han idømte tillige kvinden 100 piskeslag for “utroskab”. Hun er gift med en kristen mand, og det betragtes som utroskab.
Ifølge Amnesty International er kvinden 27 år og gravid i ottende måned. Hun sidder fængslet med sin 20 måneder gamle søn.
“Det faktum, at en kvinde kan blive dømt til døden for sit valg af religion, og at hun bliver idømt piskeslag for at være gift med en mand fra en anden religion, er afskyeligt, siger Manar Idriss fra Amnesty International.
Sudans islamistiske regime indførte sharialov i 1983, men alvorligere straffe end piskeslag er sjældne.
Meanwhile BBC online reports, that the sentence on the woman, who is pregnant, would not be carried out for two years after she had given birth.
Amnesty International said the woman, Meriam Yehya Ibrahim Ishag, was raised as an Orthodox Christian, her mother’s religion, because her father, a Muslim, was reportedly absent during her childhood.
There is a long-running debate in Islam over whether apostasy (konvertering) is a crime.
Some liberal scholars hold the view that it is not – and back up their argument by citing the Koranic verse which states: “There shall be no compulsion (tvang) in religion.”
Others say apostasy is tantamount to treason – and refer to what Prophet Muhammad said: “It is not permissible to spill the blood of a Muslim except in three [instances]: A life for a life; a married person who commits adultery; and one who forsakes his religion and separates from the community.”
Death sentences are rarely carried out in Sudan. Her lawyers plan an appeal to a higher court to get the sentence overturned.
