Daniel Wani, husband of Meriam Ibrahim, the Sudanese woman who was sentenced to death for refusing to renounce her Christian faith has spoken for the first time since they left Sudan.
In an exclusive interview with Daily Mail, Wani spoke on how they were rearrested by the secret police whom he called the ‘Agents of Fear’ at the airport in Sudan’s capital Khartoum.
He said: ‘We got the papers. We got permission to travel through the VIP area. I don't know why they did that, it’s stupid.’
‘They made a mistake and wanted to cover it up and they didn’t have a stop order. ‘When they came to us I said do you have a stop order? ‘They said no and they started to use force, they just threw the lawyers out of the airport, beat them. ‘It was terrifying, secret service personnel, national security. It’s a lot. ‘They took us, when they started to use force against my wife I said to her don’t resist and just go. We had an interview at the airport.‘We went in. I stayed there five minutes or 10 minutes and I had a number to call somebody and I told them.‘They had to cover up what they did, making this decision.’Ibrahim was pregnant the entire time she was arrested and kept at the Omdurman Women’s Prison in Khartoum.Her husband was denied access to her at all but when he heard his daughter was about to arrive, he demanded to be let him.Wani said: ‘They tried to stop me but I wanted to visit her. ‘The day she was born they didn’t allow us to see her because she had the chains on her legs. ‘They were scared that if I went in and saw her give birth in chains I would talk about it. ‘When we went there in the morning they said there’s an order and you can’t see her. After that we went to high level in the prison department to get permission.‘They tried to say it was an order from high, and I said who? Do you mean the minister of the interior? I managed to get in there for the birth. After that they allowed me in and let me see her twice a week. She was wearing the chains when she gave birth.‘I kept telling them I wanted to have the birth out of prison, I could take her to the hospital where she gave birth to Martin. At first they said OK then they refused.’He continued: ‘It feels real. It’s good to be home.‘I was born in Sudan, but I tell people I'm from here (New Hampshire)’.
Daniel’s brother Gabriel said that Daniel and Meriam have been meeting with officials from the State Department who have come up from Washington, D.C. to speak with them.He believes Meriam will be granted leave to remain for the time being with a view to granting her citizenship in the future.
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