Meriam Ibrahim, (left and right with her back to the camera), and her
husband Daniel Wani are greeted by family and friends shortly after
arriving in Manchester, New Hampshire, Thursday, July 31, 2014
Meriam Ibrahim is back on US soil after being held prisoner in Sudan and enduring a 10-month long nightmare
Meriam smiles as she walks through the airport in Manchester, New
Hampshire on her return to the United States on Thursday evening
Meriam and
Daniel walked into the baggage area at 8pm with his brother Gabriel
holding their son Martin, 21 months, and a friend holding baby Maya, who
was born whilst Meriam was in prison.
A
crowd of 30 people including a nun and a number of Sudanese women in
traditional African dress turned out at welcome them home holding signs
which read: 'Welcome home Ibrahim family - God bless you'.
Meriam
who was
imprisoned for apostasy after refusing to renounce her Christian faith,
left Rome on Thursday July 31,2014 on a flight bound for Philadelphia, according to
the campaigner who secured her release.
The
mother-of-two, accompanied by husband Daniel, a U.S. citizen, and
children Martin and Maya will then change planes to fly to New
Hampshire, according to Antonella Napoli, director of Italians for
Darfur.
The family of four will start afresh in America in Manchester, the hometown of Daniel’s brother, Gabriel Wani.
They spent the previous week in Rome after being spirited out of Sudan in the dead of night on an Italian state aircraft.
Meriam
and baby Maya, who was born while her mother as shackled in prison,
were blessed by Pope Francis who thanked her for her courage and praised
her ‘courageous witness to faith’.
The brave mother said she was a little anxious about the new start.
Daniel,
a trained chemist, lost his job while in Sudan supporting his wife
through her ordeal in prison so they will be reliant on their extended
family, at least at first.
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