Sudan ‘apostasy’ woman abruptly drops US lawsuit
January 31, 2023 (KHARTOUM) – Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag who was sentenced to death by hanging in May 2014 after being convicted in Sudanese courts for the charge of apostasy decided to drop the lawsuit she filed against Khartoum in March 2021 with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
Ishag had claimed in the suit that her ordeal in Sudan, which she described as “hostage-taking” involving her two children who were also listed as plaintiffs, caused emotional distress and permanent physical damages. She asked the judge to order Sudan to pay punitive and solatium damages without specifying the amount.
Ishag was convicted in accordance with Islamic Sharia law which states that apostasy is punishable by death. She was also sentenced to 100 lashes for being in an unrecognized marital union with a non-Muslim husband.
She had argued before the Sudanese judges that she was raised by her Ethiopian Orthodox mother after her Muslim dad abandoned the family and therefore was never a Muslim.
A Sudanese appeal court subsequently overturned the verdict and the sentence amid an international outcry. She quickly left the country and eventually settled in the U.S. with her then-South Sudanese husband and children.
What was the basis for the lawsuit?
Ishag said the court has jurisdiction over the case because Sudan was designated as a state sponsor of terrorism up until December 2020 and can therefore be sued under Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA). Even though Sudan was longer on that terrorism list at the time of the suit, Ishag said that the case remains valid because it was still made within 6-month of the last designation.
How did the case progress?
Ishag spent almost a year seeking to serve the lawsuit against the government of Sudan. She initially sent it to the Sudanese embassy in Malaysia which has seemingly refused to receive it, and she eventually mailed it to the embassy in DC. The government of Sudan did not make an appearance before the court until earlier this month, almost two years later.
What did the government of Sudan tell the court?
The lawyers representing the Sudanese government filed a motion asking the judge to dismiss the case on the grounds that the court does not have jurisdiction because the United States, through an act of congress, restored the country’s sovereign immunity thus stripping the likes of Ishag from the ability to sue Sudan.
They also told the court that the government of Sudan was not properly served with the lawsuit as required by the law which would deem any subsequent actions by the court void. The lawyers noted that the US Supreme court overturned a multi-million ruling against Sudan in 2019 because the lawsuit was delivered to the embassy in Washington rather than to the minister of foreign affairs in Khartoum.
Judge Carl J. Nichols who is presiding over Ishag’s case asked her to respond to Sudan’s motion and by Tuesday, January 31st.
Abrupt move: Instead of responding, Ishag’s lawyer unexpectedly submitted a joint motion alongside Sudan’s lawyers, asking the judge to dismiss the case “with prejudice” which means she cannot refile the same claim again in that court. No reason was stated for the sudden change of heart. The law office representing Sudan did not respond to an email by {Sudan Tribune} asking for comment.
What next:
It is all but certain that the judge will approve the motion. This would be the second case of its kind dismissed by U.S. courts after Sudan regained its sovereign immunity in 2020. In October 2021, the judge dismissed a lawsuit filed against Sudan by victims of a terror attack carried out by Hamas in Israel on the ground that the U.S. courts no longer have jurisdiction over these claims.
(ST)