Mariam’s imprisonment is shameful
WE ARE often quick to complain about living in Ireland. People joke and whinge about ‘first world problems' and things they deem to be important. Reading the story of Mariam Ibrahim this week made me so grateful for the society that I live in.
This woman has been imprisoned in Sudan for eight months, shackled to the floor and forced to give birth in the most inhumane circumstances and why? Because she married a Christian. Her older child is locked up with her because the Sudanese authorities have decided that he belongs there because he, in their opinion is Muslim.
They appear to have come to this assumption simply because the woman's father was Muslim. Her mother, however was Christian but this seemingly is of no importance. The sheer senselessness of this case highlights the injustice that can be carried out against innocent people in the name of religion.
The fact that Sudanese authorities could arrest this woman and lock her up because of her personal decision about who she married and what faith she has is disgusting. How could any country be content to let the rest of the world see what it condones and what it perceives to be a crime? It is shameful.
They have also decided that Ibrahim must be put to death for renouncing Islam but before his she must suffer 100 lashes. How can this be allowed to happen? This is just one case that has been reported on this side of the world most likely because her husband is resident int he UK. Do the basic human rights of this woman and her children mean nothing to her own country?
To think that anyone would be punished in such a barbaric way in this day and age for their religious beliefs is beyond shocking. Such intolerance is nothing short of savagery and who knows how many other cases are happening at this time. The world as a whole should have evolved more than this by now but it hasn't.
Reading the injustice that others are enduring makes me value the modern and inclusive society that we enjoy in Ireland. We are moving closer all the time to being a country where citizens can be who they want to be and while we are far from perfect we, for once we can be proud of ourselves.