Sudan judge sentences Christian woman to death for apostasy

 / Newsweek | 14 May 2014

Christian southern Sudanese celebrate Christmas mass in the Soba district of southern Khartoum on December 25, 2010 (AFP Photo/Ashraf Shazly)

Khartoum (AFP) - A Sudanese judge on Thursday sentenced a Christian woman to hang for apostasy, despite appeals by Western embassies that freedom of religion should be respected.

"We gave you three days to recant but you insist on not returning to Islam. I sentence you to be hanged to death," Judge Abbas Mohammed Al-Khalifa told the woman, addressing her by a Muslim name, Adraf Al-Hadi Mohammed Abdullah.

Her Christian name is Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag.