Sudanese Christian Meriam Ibrahim has been arrested for the second time.
Sources told BBC that Ibrahim was taken into custody Tuesday at the Khartoum airport. Her husband, Daniel Wani, and two children were allegedly with her. On Monday, Wani announced that the family intended to go to the United States.
Ibrahim was freed from prison Monday after spending six months in the Omdurman Federal Women's Prison for apostasy. Although she was raised by an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian mother, Ibrahim is considered Muslim because this was the faith of her estranged father. Her 20-month-old son, Martin, and four-week-old daughter, Maya, were in prison with her.
She faced a death sentence and 100 lashes on her daughter's second birthday before an appeals court reversed the decision. Wani had hoped that the international outcry since news of her sentence spread would lead to her release.
"Given the way people have come together around the world—which I want to thank them for—all the rights groups, all the broadcasters... It's looking like it had an effect. Perhaps it will result in the judgment being overturned," he told CNN earlier this month.
Over 40,000 Americans signed a WhiteHouse.gov petition urging the U.S. to secure Ibrahim's release from prison, and grant her asylum.
Wani is a biochemical engineer living in Manchester, New Hampshire, and his senators wrote a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry last month asking him to intervene on behalf of Ibrahim. The United Nations also condemned her sentence.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported that after Ibrahim's release from prison, she and her family faced threats against their lives.
"We remain appalled by the threats and hate speech that has been aired seemingly unhindered against Mrs. Ibrahim and her lawyers and urge the international community to hold the Sudanese authorities to account for her safety and that of her lawyers," Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said in a statement.
"The right to freedom of religion or belief is guaranteed both by international statutes to which Sudan is party and article 38 of Sudan's Interim Constitution. The Sudanese authorities have a duty to ensure the protection of any citizen who seeks to exercise or uphold this right."
