At the same time the world was horrified by the abduction of 276 Nigerian girls by a bunch of Islamist terrorists, headlines reported another outrage in Sudan: A pregnant mother was sentenced to be publicly whipped and executed for the “crimes” of apostasy and adultery.
Meriam Ibrahim refuses to renounce her faith. She says that even though her father was Muslim, he was absent — and she was raised Christian by her Christian Orthodox mother. Her husband says she is being held in prison in shackles. She is scheduled to be hanged after she’s delivered her baby.
One other thing: Her husband is an American and says his toddler son is, too.
Two senators — Republicans Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Kelly Ayotte (NH) — have recognized what this means. They have written John Kerry, asking for “immediate action and full diplomatic engagement” to granting Meriam and her children political asylum. Thus far, the secretary of state and his department have been shy about what, if anything, they plan to do. Reports say they are trying to confirm the citizenship of Ibrahim’s son.
We recognize that international humanitarian interventions are fraught with peril. But so is letting another nation get away with whipping and murdering the wife of an American citizen simply because it doesn’t like her religion.
If the United States and all its power cannot even get a petty thug regime like Sudan’s to spring this woman, can we really be surprised when leaders from Moscow, Damascus, Tehran and Beijing see us as a paper tiger?