Christians in Sudan are telling media outlets and international aid organizations that they no longer feel safe to even pray after the religious persecution of Meriam Ibrahim.

One Christian activist told CNN that they are refusing to publicly identify themselves anymore because they don’t want to face the same situation as Ibrahim, who was sentenced to 100 lashes and then being hung to death for her failure to renounce Christ and praise Allah.

“The church is now contaminated with terror. You don’t feel safe in prayer,” he said.

A human rights lawyer in the country who is a Christian said that the Christian minority will never be able to make traction because of the government’s systemic persecution.  The government-controlled media routinely tell the public that Christianity is an “illegitimate religion.”

The U.S. State Department continues to be virtually silent on the matter even though Ibrahim is the wife of an American and her children are legally American citizens.