Wonder Woman of the Week: Meriam Yahia Abrahim Ishag

If you are anything like me, you’ve probably don’t deal with the danger of execution on a daily basis. This week’s WWoW is married who she wanted, practiced a religion she chose, birthed a child while in prison for an insane crime, and all the while had the fortitude to maintain her principles all while under the threat of her own nation executing her.

When Meriam Yahia was a young girl in Sudan, her Muslim father abandoned Meriam and her Christian mother. Meriam’s mother in turn raised her daughter to be a Christian like her and eventually Meriam grew up and married a Christian American dual citizen in Sudan- none of which was against her will. Meriam and her husband Daniel Wani lived a pretty successful life. Meriam owned and ran a couple local businesses and everything seemed like everything would be okay. Unfortunately for the last hundred years or so, Northern Africa doesn’t really work that way. Meriam’s half brother- from her father’s new family- and his sister decided they wanted a piece of Meriam’s success. (And that piece was more like one hundred percent of it.)

After the two discovered Meriam was claiming to be a Christian, they hatched a plan to wrangle control of everything Meriam and her husband worked incredibly hard for. Meriam’s half-brother told the authorities his Meriam was born a Muslim because her absentee father was, and Meriam was officially arrested for apostasy- the unlawful conversion from Islam to any other religion. While Meriam and her lawyers stressed she was raised her entire life by her Christian mother and that her Muslim father had no part in her upbringing, the courts refused to hear them.

Meriam Yahia was convicted and sent to prison even though she was eight months pregnant at the time. Even her young son was sent to prison with her, which shows the extent to how insane these courts were. While in prison, Meriam was shackled to the ground at the ankles like a Medieval dungeon and even had to give birth to her second child while wearing her chains.

If you’re wondering where her husband was during all this, Daniel Wani was attempting to plead his case to the courts to get his wife and children free. Daniel- who suffers from MS- was literally blocked by the authorities from ever setting foot in court. However, Daniel and Meriam’s team of lawyers (who came in from across the globe) received help from human rights organizations across the planet to free Meriam from her bogus charges.

Finally, Meriam and her children were freed due to pressure from international human rights lawsuits and was set to move with her family to the United States. While at the airport, the South Sudanese authorities told Meriam she forged her flight plans and arrested her again. After even more pressure from international assistance, Merian and her family were finally allowed to leave South Sudan. Along the way to the United States, Merian Yahi and her family were invited to personally meet Pope Francis in Rome. Even now, Meriam’s father’s family is trying to annul her marriage (which would force Meriam to move back to South Sudan) but she is likely going to be living in the United States for good.