Mariam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag

Meriam Ibrahim was born to a Muslim father, who left her Ethiopian Orthodox mother to raise her from early childhood. She was raised in her mother's faith and married a Christian man; the marriage certificate has been published. Meriam Ibrahim was reportedly turned in to the authorities by one of her relatives, who claimed Mariam was committing adultery by marrying Daniel Wani, a Christian. She was sentenced to death on 15 May 2014, for allegedly committing apostasy from Islam, meaning that she was accused of changing religion from Islam to a different (or no) religion. Although Meriam Ibrahim Said she has always been a Christian, the prosecution claimed she should have followed the faith of her absent father, and demanded, with the support of the judge, that she abandon her Christian faith, and assent to belief in her father's faith, Islam.

She was given three days to convert, but refused, arguing that she had been a Christian all her life, and could not rescind or alter her genuine personal faith at the request of a court. Her husband, Daniel Wani, appealed the sentence on both of their behalfs. On 24 June 2014 Meriam Ibrahim was released on the order of a Sudanese appeal court. The following day, as she and her family were to board a plane to the United States, she and her family were arrested and taken from the airport to Khartoum for questioning following a tip-off to the police by her half brother. The US Ambassador was summoned in protest at the granting of an exit visa, described by the Sudanese Foreign Ministry as 'a criminal violation'. Meriam Ibrahim was freed again on 26 June 2014 and took refuge in the United States embassy with her family. After extensive negotiations to enable her to leave Sudan, Meriam Ibrahim arrived in Rome on 24 July 2014 on an Italian government plane.

Mohamed Jar Elnabi, a lawyer representing Meriam Ibrahim, said police and the judge prevented her husband, Wani, going into the court. Elnabi said Wani is wheelchair-bound due to muscular dystrophy and "totally depends on her for all details of his life, he cannot live without her". Speaking about the couple's son Martin Wani, Elnabi said, "The couple's son is having a difficult time in prison. He is very affected from being trapped inside a prison from such a young age, he is always getting sick due to lack of hygiene and bugs." Reports that Meriam Ibrahim may be freed were subsequently officially denied. However, on 24 June 2014, Meriam Ibrahim was released on the order of a Sudanese appeal court. The following day, as she and her family were to board a plane to the United States, she and her family were arrested and taken from the airport to Khartoum for questioning. Authorities stated that she was not under arrest, but that the police wished to question her about the validity of a travel document provided to her by South Sudan. Daniel Wani claims in a report from Christian Today the family and supporters were violently handled, the lawyers were beaten and thrown out of the airport. Following their release, the family spent a month in the U.S. embassy in Khartoum.

In May 2014, the embassies of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands issued a joint statement expressing "deep concern" about the case, urging Sudan to respect the right to freedom of religion. The European Union called for revocation of the "inhuman verdict" and John Kerry urged Sudan to repeal laws banning Muslims from joining other faiths.

Because Islamic law does not allow marriages between Muslim women and non-Muslim men, her marriage to a Christian man was considered void by the court, based on its belief that she should not have been raised as a Christian, or chosen that faith. Therefore, the court argued that, although a lifelong Christian, she should notionally be treated as a Muslim, and that the marriage to the Christian man was not valid. She was therefore also sentenced to receive 100 lashes for adultery, in spite of the sexual relations having been only with her husband, with the flogging to be administered some time in advance of being hanged. Moreover, her 20-month-old son was also imprisoned, and was initially denied all contact with his father, who would never have been permitted to raise him. Three of his four grandparents – both his paternal grandparents, and his maternal grandmother – were Christian from birth, as were his parents – but the authorities have stated that as the absentee maternal grandfather that he never met was a Muslim, he therefore could not legally be raised by his Christian father.

A lawyer for Meriam Ibrahim Said the case would, if necessary, have gone to Sudan's highest Constitutional Court. Sudan's 2005 interim constitution officially guarantees freedom of religion.

Mariam [Meriam] Yahia Ibrahim Ishag or Maryam Yaḥyā Ibrahīm Isḥaq (مريم يحيى إبراهيم إسحق, born 3 November 1987 in Al Qadarif state, Sudan), is a Sudanese religious freedom activist and public speaker. Meriam Ibrahim was arrested during her second pregnancy for apostasy and gave birth to a girl in prison on 27 May 2014. Mariam Ibrahim's case is part of a wider problem of persecution of Christians in Sudan.