Manchester student speaks at Birmingham University about the legal case of Meriam Ibrahim

The Manchester University student responsible for the change.org petition to save Meriam Ibrahim in Sudan, joined a panel of international experts and human rights lawyer to discuss her legal case at Birmingham University last week.

Emily Clarke, Law and Politics student, spoke at Birmingham University for ‘Meriam Ibrahim, the Case that Gripped the World’ in their series of City Talks lectures.

Emily set up the change.org petition which called for the Sudanese government to save mother Meriam Ibrahim from her sentence of 100 lashes and the death penalty.

Since its set-up, the petition gained over 1092000 signatures and attracted significant media attention to Meriam’s case.

Meriam was raised as a Christian but was charged with apostasy, or abandonment of faith, for maintaining her mother’s Christian faith rather than her father’s Muslim faith.

She was freed in July 2014 following skilled lawyering and political diplomacy, and landed safely in Rome with her husband and two children in July.

The list of panellists Emily joined at Birmingham University included Mr Elshareef Ali Mohammed, of the Sudan legal team on Meriam’s case and Birmingham City University alumnus, The Rt Hon Baroness Anelay of St Johns, Minister of State of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and was chaired by Manjit Singh Gill QC, Head of International Human Rights at No. 5 Chambers, London.

The talk covered Women’s and Children’s rights, freedom of thought and religion, and the role of civil society and multi-media for protecting human rights.

Emily spoke about how she discovered the Meriam case on Twitter, and the role that social media can play in defending international human rights. She explained how the campaign started on personal media and private network, and traditional media followed.

They talk also covered the death penalty and whether or not it is a negative policy, with Chair Baroness Anelay saying “What we take for granted here must be defended day in, day out.”