MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on Sudan, the case of Meriam Yahia Ibrahim
15.7.2014 - (2014/2727(RSP))
pursuant to Rule 135 of the Rules of Procedure
Cristian Dan Preda, Bogdan Brunon Wenta, Tunne Kelam, Mariya Gabriel, Jarosław Leszek Wałęsa, Seán Kelly, Petri Sarvamaa, Monica Luisa Macovei, Michèle Alliot-Marie, Philippe Juvin, Pavel Svoboda, Jaromír Štětina, Agnieszka Kozłowska-Rajewicz, Andrej Plenković, Davor Ivo Stier, Franck Proust, Andrzej Grzyb on behalf of the PPE Group
See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B8-0010/2014
B8‑0012/2014
European Parliament resolution on Sudan, the case of Meriam Yahia Ibrahim
The European Parliament,
- having regard to the HR/VP Statement of 15 May 2014 on the death sentence passed for apostasy in Sudan
- having regard to the Statement on Meriam Yahya Ibrahim, a Sudanese believer sentenced to death for apostacy made on 10 June 2014 by the President of the European Commission, the President of the European Council, the President of the European Parliament and the religious leaders participating in the High-level religious leaders meeting 2014 held in Brussels;
– having regard to Rule 135(5) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas in late 2013 Meriam Yahya Ibrahim, daughter of an Ethiopian Christian mother and Sudanese Muslim father, who was raised as a Christian was accused of adultery by her father's side of the family; whereas the apostasy accusation was added in December 2013,
B. whereas the verdict at the court of first instance was delivered on 12 May 2014, sentencing Meriam Ibrahim, at that time eight month pregnant, to a hundred lashes on charges of adultery and sentencing her to death by hanging on charges of apostasy, but giving her three days to renounce Christianity; whereas Meriam Ibrahim was convicted under Islamic sharia law that has been in force in Sudan since 1983 and outlaws conversions on pain of death,
C. whereas on 15 May 2014, the verdict was reconfirmed as Meriam Ibrahim chose not to convert to Islam,
D. whereas on 27 May 2014 she gave birth to a baby girl at the prison clinic where she was imprisoned along with her 20-month-old son
E. whereas on 5 May 2014 her file was successfully transferred to the Appeal Court,
F. whereas Meriam Ibrahim was released from Omdurman Woman’s Prison on 23 June 2014 after the Appeal Court found her not guilty of both charges, but was re-arrested on the following day as she and her family were to board a plane to the United States; whereas Meriam Ibrahim was freed again on 26 June 2014 and took refuge in the United States embassy with her family, and negotiations are ongoing to enable her to leave Sudan where she faces death threats from extremist Muslims,
G. whereas freedom of religion or belief is a universal human right that needs to be protected everywhere and for everyone; whereas Sudan has ratified the relevant UN and African Union conventions and thereby has an international obligation to defend and promote freedom of religion or belief, which notably includes the right to adopt, change or abandon one's religion or belief of one's own free will,
H. whereas the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, ratified by the Republic of Sudan, includes the right to life and the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment, but whereas the death penalty, flogging, amputation and other corporal punishments are still being carried out in the country for a number of criminal sentences,
I. whereas the Republic of Sudan is bound by the human rights clause of the Cotonou Agreement[1] and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights[2],
1. Expresses its deepest dismay and concern with the fate of Meriam Yahya Ibrahim and calls upon the responsible Sudanese authorities to allow her and her family to leave the country with the utmost urgency for her personal safety;
2. Demands that the Sudanese government – in line with universal human rights - repeal any legal provisions that penalise or discriminate against individuals for their religious beliefs or for changing their religion or beliefs or for inducing others to change a religion or belief, especially when cases of apostasy, heterodoxy, or conversion are punishable by death;
3. Stresses that such laws are inconsistent with Sudan’s 2005 Interim Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and urges Sudan to ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty;[3]
4 Calls on Sudan to issue an immediate moratorium on all executions, with a view to abolishing the death penalty and also all forms of corporal punishment;
5. Deplores that the punishment for adultery under the Sharia law to a large extent falls on women, as there is rarely sufficient evidence to convict a man, whereas a pregnancy is considered evidence enough to convict the woman;
6. Considers that Sharia law should never apply to persons who are not of Muslim faith, nor should it be applied in Khartoum, that aspires to be the capital of the whole Sudanese people;
7. Calls on the Government of Sudan to accede to the protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, as well as to the Protocol of the Court of Justice of the African Union, both adopted in Maputo, Mozambique on 11 July 2003;
8. Calls on Sudan to undertake, with the support of the international community, urgent legal reform in order to protect fundamental human rights and freedoms, ensure the protection of every individual's human rights and address in particular discriminations against women, minorities and disadvantaged groups;
9. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the EU Council and Commission, the Member States and the government of the Republic of Sudan.
- [1] Partnership Agreement between the members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part, signed in Cotonou on 23 June 2000
- [2] UN General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966
- [3] UN General Assembly resolution 44/128 of 15 December 1989