Meriam Ibrahim returned to USA Thursday July 31,2014

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.