The BBC reported yesterday that a Sudanese Foreign Ministry official said the authorities were to free the Sudanese woman sentenced to death for having abandoned the Islamic faith.

A Sudanese court last month handed down the sentence to 27-year-old Mariam Yahya Ibrahim – who was pregnant at the time and has since given birth in prison – for converting to Christianity, ordering her to abandon her newly-adopted faith and return to Islam. She was also charged with adultery for marrying a Christian.

Britain’s Foreign Office had said the sentence was barbaric and asked Sudanese Charge d’Affaires Bukhari Afandi to urge his government to uphold its international obligations on freedom of religion or belief and do all it can to overturn this decision.

In reaction to Britain’s move, Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said Ibrahim’s case was a judicial, not political, matter.“The ruling on the woman was issued by the judiciary in Sudan which is independent and the government does not interfere in it,” spokesman Abu-Bakr Al-Siddiq had told Reuters, adding the ruling could be appealed.