“Prayer was my strength in prison,” says Sudanese Christian at the international launch of the RFR 2025 Report
Mariam Ibrahim was arrested for apostasy and adultery because Sharia law mandated that she was a Muslim, like her father, even though she had been raised as a practicing Christian. She shared a powerful testimony at the international launch of the 2025 Religious Freedom Report.
More than 20 speakers from different regions of the world shared testimonies and insights on the current state of religious freedom, during the international launch of the Religious Freedom in the World Report 2025, organised by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), on 21 October, in Rome. Among them, one of the most moving interventions came from Mariam Ibrahim (also known as Mariam Ishag), a Sudanese woman sentenced to death in 2014 for alleged apostasy and to 100 lashes for alleged adultery, after refusing to renounce her Christian faith.
Although Mariam was unable to travel to Rome due to a last-minute visa issue, she sent a heartfelt video message from the United States, where she now lives with her family. In her address, she expressed deep gratitude to ACN “for all the work, advocacy, and prayers carried out throughout the year on behalf of the persecuted Church”.
“It brings so much hope to my heart to witness all this work and advocacy for those who suffer for their faith. I’m deeply grateful to my friends at Aid to the Church in Need for not forgetting the persecuted,” she said.
Mariam recalled that her ordeal began in Sudan when, as the daughter of a Muslim father and a Christian mother, she was automatically considered Muslim under the country’s law. “I was accused because I grew up as a Christian, because I practiced my faith, and because I married a Christian man. That was considered a crime,” she explained.
During her pregnancy and imprisonment, she faced unimaginable hardship.
“I spent Christmas 2013 in prison. I discovered I was pregnant just before being jailed. That first night in the cell I was terrified and could only pray. My mother had passed away, my father’s family rejected me, and the media called me ‘unclean’, ‘infidel’ and ‘deserving of death’.”
One of the most striking moments in her testimony was when she described how she managed to keep her Bible in prison: “I had to cut its pages and hide them in my hair so I could read them in the bathroom. That was the only place I could open it without being discovered. I still carry that prison Bible with me everywhere I go.”
Mariam highlighted the power of prayer and the importance of access to God’s Word for those facing persecution: “When people ask me how to pray for the persecuted, I say: pray that they find access to God’s Word. In many countries, owning a Bible is seen as an act of terrorism. But the Bible is not a threat — it is the story of salvation for all people.”
Her eventual release was made possible through the mediation of the Italian government and the support of the international community. Before leaving Sudan, Mariam and her family took refuge for a month in the US embassy in Khartoum. “I am grateful that my children are safe, my family is safe, and I now have a mission — to use my voice for those who still suffer for their faith,” she said during the launch of the Religious Freedom in the World Report 2025.
“Persecution brings unimaginable pain, but God always gives strength. I pray that ACN’s work continues to grow, that the world listens to our stories, and that the Church never stops praying for those in prison,” she concluded.
ACN’s Religious Freedom in the World Report 2025 reveals that over 5.4 billion people — nearly two-thirds of the global population — live in countries with serious violations of religious freedom.
Of the 196 countries analysed between January 2023 and December 2024, 62 registered severe violations, 24 with systematic persecution and 38 with widespread discrimination based on faith.
