Sudanese Family Drops Suit Against Christian Daughter

Friday, July 18, 2014

By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent

KHARTOUM (Worthy News)-- A lawsuit brought by a Sudanese Muslim family against a Christian woman to legally establish her as their Muslim daughter was dropped Wednesday in a development that could finally allow her to leave Sudan once and for all, according to Reuters.

The case of Meriam Yahya Ibrahim caused an international outcry after a Sudanese court sentenced her to death in May for converting from Islam to Christianity.

However, Ibrahim said she was born and raised by an Ethiopian family as a Christian and was later abducted by the Sudanese Muslim family that insists she still belongs to them.

After an appeals court over ruled Ibrahim's death sentence last month, Sudan still refused to acknowledge her new standing as a South-Sudanese Christian. But on Wednesday, lawyer Abdel Rahman Malek said the family had dropped their lawsuit just before the first scheduled hearing in Khartoum's Family Court.

"We are no longer proceeding with the lawsuit," Malek told Reuters. He declined to give any reason for the decision.

Ibrahim, her husband and their children have been staying at the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum.