MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on Sudan, the case of Meriam Yahia Ibrahim

15.7.2014 - (2014/2727(RSP))

with request for inclusion in the agenda for a debate on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law
pursuant to Rule 135 of the Rules of Procedure

Marietje Schaake, Ivo Vajgl, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, Louis Michel, Petras Auštrevičius, Petr Ježek, Marielle de Sarnez, Izaskun Bilbao Barandica, Charles Goerens, Ramon Tremosa i Balcells, Johannes Cornelis van Baalen on behalf of the ALDE Group

See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B8-0010/2014

B8‑0014/2014

European Parliament resolution on Sudan, the case of Meriam Yahia Ibrahim

(2014/2727(RSP))

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the joint statement from the President of the European Commission, the President of the European Council and the President of the European Parliament, together with the religion leaders in marge of the High level religious leader meeting, 10 June 2014;

- having regard to the statement of the HR/VP spokesperson, 15 May 2014;

- having regard to the various condemnations by the United Nation, 16 and 19 May 2014;

- having regard to its previous resolution on Sudan;

- having regard to Rule 135 of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas 27 years old Meriam Yahya Ibrahim was sentence to death by hanging for apostasy and to a hundred lashes for adultery on 12 May 2014; whereas she was given 3 days to renounce her Christian faith; whereas on 15 May 2014, the verdict was reconfirmed as Meriam Ibrahim chose not to convert to Islam;

B. whereas Sudan introduced Islamic Shariah law in the early 1980s contributing to sectarian violence and an insurgency in the mostly animist and Christian south of Sudan;

C. whereas sharia law prohibits changing to another religion or renouncing one's faith;

D. whereas on 27 May 2014 Meriam Yahya Ibrahim gave birth to a baby girl at the prison clinic while she was shackled; whereas she had been imprisoned with her 20-month old son;

E. whereas the Sudanese authorities have reportedly refused to release the child to his father's care;

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; whereas she was re-arrested on the following day as she and her family were to board a plane to the United States; whereas her husband became a US citizen in 2005;

G. whereas Meriam Ibrahim was freed again on 26 June 2014 and took refuge in the United States embassy with her family, and negotiations are on-going to enable her to leave Sudan where she faces death threats from extremist Muslims;

H. whereas the Delegation of the European Union to Sudan in Khartoum which is closely following the case hosted a series of meetings with the lawyer and the EU Human Rights Counsellors, recalling the EU Guidelines on freedom of religion and belief of 2013;

I. 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 for a number of criminal sentences;

J. whereas the Republic of Sudan is signatory to the human rights clause of the Cotonou Agreement and to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;

1. Expresses its deepest concerns on the case of Meriam Yahya Ibrahim and calls upon the responsible Sudanese authorities to insure her and her family safety including by allowing them to leave the country;

2. Reaffirms that freedom of religion, conscience or belief is an universal human right that needs to be protected everywhere and for everyone;

3. Recalls that 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;

4. Reaffirms the right to fair trial, equal treatment and non-discrimination in Court;

5. Calls on all countries to repeal legal provisions that penalise or discriminate against individuals for leaving or changing their religion or belief or for inducing others to change a religion or belief, especially when cases of apostasy, heterodoxy, or conversion are punishable by the death penalty;

6. Calls on Sudan to put a moratorium of the death penalty;

7. Calls Sudan to ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty; calls on the Sudanese government to ratify the Convention to Eliminate all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child;

8. Welcomes the fact that the diversity in identities of people in Sudan was praised during the recent Government announcement of the national dialogue process and calls for promotion of (religious) tolerance as a stepping stone to national unity and reconciliation;

9. 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;

10. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the EU Council and Commission, the Member States and the government of the Republic of Sudan.