Sudan’s Christian convert woman faces new lawsuit

A Sudanese woman spared a death sentence for converting from Islam to Christianity faces a new lawsuit on Thursday brought by her family to formally establish her as a Muslim, a lawyer said, in a move that could delay her departure for the United States. Mariam Yahya Ibrahim, 27, was briefly detained last week, a day after an appeals court overturned a death sentence imposed on her for changing her faith and marrying a Christian South Sudanese-American. Despite lifting the death penalty, Sudan refuses to acknowledge Ibrahim’s new identity as a South-Sudanese Christian. “The Khartoum Religious Court will review on Thursday morning a case asking to prove that Mariam Ibrahim belongs to her (Muslim) father and family,” said Abdel Rahman Malek, the lawyer hired by Ibrahim’s Muslim family for the case.