Paul Strand, CBN News, reports:
WASHINGTON -- Protesters from some 40 groups marched and rallied outside the White House Thursday, accusing the president of not doing enough to push Sudan to free Meriam Ibrahim, a 27-year-old mother of two who's been sentenced to die for her Christian faith.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, attended the rally and pointed out Ibrahim, who is a daughter of a Muslim father, has been sentenced to die because she herself is a practicing Christian.
"Very simply the fact that she is a Christian, that she attends a local Catholic church, is deemed a crime there," Cruz said of Sudan. "And for that crime, she has been sentenced to 100 lashes and then to hang by the neck till dead."
Meriam's young son is imprisoned with her, as is her newborn baby daughter. Some of the protesters calling for their freedom wore red links as they marched and demonstrated.
"These represent the chains that Meriam Ibrahim has been wearing since she was imprisoned in Sudan," Penny Nance, with Concerned Women for America, told CBN News.
"She actually was forced to give birth while wearing them. So we wanted to wear them today in solidarity with our Christian sister, who was imprisoned only because of her faith," she added.
Meriam is married to an American citizen, making her children eligible for American citizenship. That fact is one reason why the protesters can't believe the American president hasn't done more for this mother and her children.
President Barack Obama may risk losing a little prestige by speaking out if Sudan ignores him. But protesters said the situation is so dire, that's a risk well worth taking.
"The White House has been silent on Meriam and her two children who have been in a Sudanese prison for months, a prison that is deadly," Tony Perkins, with the Family Research Council, told CBN News. "This time of year, one infant a day dies, and Meriam is in there with a 20-month-old and now one that is about two weeks old."
"What the government of Sudan is proposing to do to this young mother is grotesque, it is immoral, it is horrendous, it is wrong. And we should speak out with one voice in unison to free Meriam Ibrahim," Sen. Cruz said.
Demonstrators plan to take their protest to Sudan's embassy in Washington D.C., Friday.
** From Family Research Council:
President Obama has been trying for weeks to dodge the Meriam Ibrahim story. But he'll have a tough time doing that today as crowds of Americans gathered on his front lawn to protest the administration's silence. Thousands of miles away, two tiny children, born to an American dad, cower in a filthy, bug-infested Khartoum prison, their mother chained to a prison cell wall. Sentenced to execution for her Christian faith, Meriam continues to hope that their cries will be heard by the United States.
Yet while liberals drone on about the "war on women" and the President trades five terrorists for an Army deserter, this small family continues to hit brick wall after brick wall in their appeals for diplomatic help. The situation is even more desperate now, as some British papers report that the 27-year-old wife of American Daniel Wani could be flogged in days if her appeal is thrown out. The stomach-churning ordeal is getting plenty of coverage overseas, as locals describe what 100 lashes means.
A barbaric practice that leaves its victims screaming and pleading for their lives, a man with a whip begins swinging -- and female prisoners, who start off wearing clothes, soon watch the layers disintegrate, "leaving the women bare-backed as the whip 'takes skin' off." Daniel's brother Gabriel says the 100 lashes can kill, "while others hover 'in bad condition' until they are executed."
This is the fate of an innocent wife and mother, married to a U.S. citizen from New Hampshire. Still, the President, who has never needed a shot of positive PR more, sits on his hands -- refusing even to release a simple statement condemning the Sudanese government or to leverage its hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid. The President needs to find his voice for two American children who will die in a prison with an infant mortality rate of one per day.
Today, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), FRC and more than 40 organizations stood at the White House and demanded that the United States live up to its mantle as the leader of liberty and intervene. As a Marine veteran, I told the crowd, I'm glad to hear that we leave no one behind. But Mr. President, it's women and children first. At the very least, the administration could give Meriam hope and Sudan's government fear. Sen. Cruz, who so passionately spoke out on Meriam's behalf at the Texas GOP Convention, said that there's nothing about this case that should be partisan. "She has been sentenced to die. She has been sentenced to receive 100 lashes and then be hung by the neck till dead unless she renounces her Christian faith, and Meriam has said, `I will not renounce Christ.'"
"Let me ask a simple question," Cruz said when the applause subsided. "Where is the President of the United States? Why isn't the president of the United States standing up on the world stage and saying, 'Free Meriam Ibrahim right now?' Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall. A Sudanese prison -- tear down these prison walls." If the President won't speak out, I encourage you to. Go toFRC's WhiteHouse.gov petition and help us hit the 100,000 mark -- before it's too late. Click below to see video from this morning's rally