After such a joyous day, Meriam is now back in custody. She and her husband were arrested on their way out of the country. As of right now, the status of their children is unknown. Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) arrested them in the Khartoum airport. According to her lawyer, 50 officials arrested them after an angry confrontation. As of now, no one knows why they were detained and the couple has been refused lawyer representation.
According to her lawyer, there were no travel restrictions. “I’m very concerned. When people do not respect the court, they might do anything,” said Elshareef.
Please pray for this couple and their children. Contact your representatives to put political pressure on the Sudanese government to let them go.
** UPDATE**
It has been reported that when Meriam was being arrested, her husband Daniel refused to leave her side. Because of this, the whole family was arrested. A newspaper in the UK has reported some grave information.
According
to religious freedom group Hardwired, who have campaigned for Meriam’s release,
the NISS does not operate through the courts if it claims to be working on a
matter of national security.
Previously
they have detained people indefinitely and is notorious for taking prisoners to
secret ‘ghost houses’ where they are tortured.
The
NISS have been described as ‘Agents of Fear’ in a report by human rights
campaigners Amnesty which highlights a catalogue of abuse they are alleged to
have inflicted on prisoners. ~
Mirror, UK
**UPDATE 2**
It is being reported that Meriam and her family are not arrested, but are being questioned about the authenticity of her travel documents. The US State Department says they have received assurances from Sudan that the family is safe.
Really?! First off, the travel document thing is just ridiculous. Let this woman and her family leave! Second, do we really believe that Sudan is going to admit to any bad treatment? I don’t think so. Their record for truth and human rights is not real great. Third, since when has the State Department been helpful to this family? They have done nothing but hinder Daniel’s efforts to free his family. I have no faith in them to help this family at all.
Off of my rant, please be in prayer for this family. It is apparent that nothing short of God’s hand will correct this situation.
Contact the US State Department here
STATE DEPARTMENT TRANSCRIPT
QUESTION: Sudan?
MS. HARF: Uh-huh.
QUESTION: Do you have information about this – the status of this woman, Christian woman who has been —
MS. HARF: I have a little bit.
QUESTION: — has been rearrested, apparently? And since you welcomed
yesterday a release, were you in contact with the Sudanese authorities?
MS. HARF: So the State Department has been informed by the Sudanese
Government that the family was temporarily detained at the airport for
several hours by the government for questioning over issues related to
their travel and I think travel documents. They have not been arrested.
The government has assured us of their safety. The Embassy has been and
will remain highly involved in working with the family and the
government. We are engaging directly with Sudanese officials to secure
their safe and swift departure from Sudan, and of course, we’ll provide
more information as we get it.
QUESTION: Were they traveling to the U.S.?
MS. HARF: I don’t have more details for you on their travel.
QUESTION: You said temporarily detained.
MS. HARF: Mm-hmm.
QUESTION: Is it your understanding —
MS. HARF: For several hours.
QUESTION: — that they were released?
MS. HARF: Yes. They were temporarily detained for several hours over
questions relating to their documents. They have not been arrested, have
since been released.
QUESTION: Do you know where they are?
MS. HARF: We, obviously, aren’t going to get into specific details about their location.
QUESTION: Well, no. I don’t want to know the address, but —
MS. HARF: And —
QUESTION: They’re still in Khartoum?
MS. HARF: And the Sudanese Government has assured us of their safety,
and we are working with the government to assure their safe passage out
of the country.
QUESTION: Are they being prevented from leaving the country?
MS. HARF: Again, we’re working with the government on this. They today
were not able to, I think, because of some travel document issues, but
we’re working with the government to resolve those issues.
QUESTION: Do you – well, do you buy this explanation from the Sudanese
and do you think it’s just another example of harassment, or do you
think it was some legitimate concern?
MS. HARF: I don’t have any
details to make that kind of judgment, Matt. I think what we’re focused
on is working with the government to get them out of the country, and
they said they’ll work with us.
QUESTION: Do you know – okay. Well, so you would consider that to be positive even though this is not a good thing that —
MS. HARF: We just want the right outcome here.
QUESTION: Okay. Were there people from the Embassy with them when they were detained?
MS. HARF: I can check on that. I’m not sure.
QUESTION: Because there is – the husband is an American citizen.
Correct? And so presumably, you would be offering or the Embassy would
be offering assistance to —
MS. HARF: Right. We have been
assisting. I’m happy – I don’t know the specifics, though. It’s, I
think, a fairly fast-moving and fluid situation.
QUESTION: Okay.
But – and – but do you know enough to be able to say – the Sudanese say
that they weren’t mistreated or that they’re safe. Do you know enough to
be able to confirm that independently that they weren’t —
MS.
HARF: The government has assured us of their safety. I don’t – I don’t
have anything to indicate that’s not the case. But again —
QUESTION: Okay. But —
MS. HARF: — what we’re focused on is getting them as quickly as possible out of Sudan.
QUESTION: Right. But I just – you don’t know at the moment if someone from the Embassy had eyes on them to —
MS. HARF: I’m sorry, I just don’t. I’m happy to check with our folks.
QUESTION: Are you helping them with the documents that they need or —
MS. HARF: I’m not going to go into more specifics about their travel. As I said, we are committed to helping them in general.
Yes.
QUESTION: Do you know if there’s been a formal application for asylum with the U.S. Government on her (inaudible)?
MS. HARF: I think for any of those questions you need to check in with
Homeland Security and Customs and Immigration. I think they’re best able
to answer those.
QUESTION: Marie, can I go back to the Palestinian-Israeli issue?
QUESTION: Hold on, one more thing.
MS. HARF: Uh-huh.
QUESTION: It’s my understanding that under the immigration law and the
asylum law that they actually have to be on U.S. territory to apply,
which makes it relevant as to whether they are in the Embassy, which
would be U.S. territory, or not. So just to add some urgent – add some
fodder to the taken question on whether there’s been contact.
MS. HARF: I understand. Yeah.
QUESTION: Have they gone to the Embassy —
MS. HARF: So I’m not, obviously, going to get into details about their
location. I’m happy to see if there are more details, and by tomorrow,
hopefully, we’ll have more details to share.
Yes, and then I’m going to Elliot.
**UPDATE 3**
It is being reported that Meriam and her family are staying in the US Embassy in Sudan. They believe this is the safest place for them until they can arrange to leave Sudan.
The Sudanese government posted on their FB page that they had arrested Meriam because of discrepancies in her travel documents. She had an American visa and a South Sudanese emergency travel document. Apparently that is a red flag for criminal activity in their country. So they detained her.
ACLJ is reporting that Meriam and her family are not free to leave Sudan. It is possible that the government is getting ready to charge her with attempting to travel with illegal documents and her husband with being an accomplice. These charges could give her up to 7 years in prison. It is unknown at this time if Sudan will formally charge them. However, they are not able to leave the country. Someone posted bail for them which allowed them to leave police custody.
Bail in Sudan is different than the US. This person could not just lose money if the family doesn’t show for trial, but could also be made to stand in place of them. So, this person faces the criminal penalty if Meriam and Daniel don’t show up.
Be in prayer for this family. Call/email your representatives and let them know that this is absolutely unacceptable.
**UPDATE 4**
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28050753#%22
This is an interview that BBC was able to do with Meriam before she arrived at the US Embassy in Khartoum.
Also, NBC is reporting that Meriam’s “brother” tipped off the police that she was kidnapped by her husband. This is the only report I have seen on this. However, it rings true considering the behavior of this person throughout Meriam’s whole ordeal.
