A pregnant Christian woman in Sudan has been sentenced to 100 lashes and then death for adultery and apostasy.

Meriam Yahia Ibrahim, 27, had been working as a doctor at the time she was seized by government officials.  The graduate of Khartoum University has been a Christian her entire life and married a Christian man from South Sudan.

However, because Sudan is largely Muslim and controlled by Islamists, Ibrahim was considered Muslim by the government regardless of what she said was her faith.  Therefore, they said her marriage to the Christian man was invalid and her having his child is adultery and apostasy.

“We grieve today at the sentencing to death of a mother, pregnant with her second child, for the expression of her faith and legal marriage to a practicing Christian,” said International Christian Concern Regional Manager William Stark.

“The handing down of such an extreme punishment under a law inspired by the al-Turabi radicalism of the early al-Bashir regime brings into question the direction Sudan intends to head following South Sudanese succession. Having embraced policies of Islamization and Arabization in the past, ICC fears Meriam could be the first of many more Christians to suffer under an increasingly radicalized Sudanese government intent on enforcing Sharia law throughout the land.”

The international director of the Barnabas Fund said that anti-Christianism in Sudan is increasing to the point women are being picked up off the street and beaten by authorities if they do not meet Sharia guidelines for dress even if they are not Muslims.