A Sudanese judge sentenced a Christian woman to be hanged on Thursday for apostasy, or the abandonment of religion, despite appeals by Western embassies for compassion and respect for religious freedom, the Guardian reported.
Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, 27, was born to a Muslim father but brought up a Christian by her mother.
After getting three days to recant her faith or face a possible death sentence, Yehya was convicted on Sunday.
"We gave you three days to recant but you insist on not returning to Islam. I sentence you to be hanged to death," Judge Abbas Mohammed Al-Khalifa told the woman, addressing her by her father's Muslim name, Adraf Al-Hadi Mohammed Abdullah.
Yehya, a doctor, was also sentenced to face flogging for adultery on the grounds that her marriage to a Christian man from South Sudan is considered void under Islamic law.
Earlier in the hearing, an Islamic religious leader spoke with her in the caged dock for about 30 minutes, Agence France-Presse reported.
Then she calmly told the judge: "I am a Christian and I never committed apostasy."
The decision would most probably be appealed by Yehya, he lawyer said.
Amnesty International said Yehya was eight months pregnant and in detention with her 20-month-old son.
"The fact that a woman could be sentenced to death for her religious choice and to flogging for being married to a man of an allegedly different religion is abhorrent and should never be even considered," a spokesperson said.
The international community has condemned Sudan's Islamist regimes' sentence. In a joint statement, the embassies of Britain, the United States, Canada and the Netherlands expressed "deep concern" over her case.
"We call upon the government of Sudan to respect the right to freedom of religion, including one's right to change one's faith or beliefs," they said.
After the verdict, about 50 people demonstrated against the decision, AFP reported.
"No to executing Meriam," said one of their signs while another proclaimed: "Religious rights are a constitutional right."
