Sudanese Christian woman Meriam Ibrahim arrives in Italy

Meriam Ibrahim, the Christian woman who was spared a death sentence for apostasy and then barred from leaving Sudan, met Pope Francis on Thursday after arriving in Rome to jubilant scenes following intense international efforts to free her.

Ms Ibrahim and her husband Daniel Wani personally thanked the pontiff for his support and he in turn thanked her for her courage and staying true to her Christian faith despite the threat of execution when they met for nearly half an hour at the Vatican.

Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, described the meeting as “calm and affectionate” and said the Pope wanted it to be a “gesture of support to all those who suffer for their faith, and living in difficult or restrictive situations”.

Pope Francis met the couple at his Vatican residence after the 27-year-old landed at Rome’s Ciampino airport by surprise aboard an official Italian government aircraft with her husband and two young children early Thursday.

She was accompanied by Italy’s deputy minister for foreign affairs, Lapo Pistelli, who flew to Sudan to collect her late on Wednesday, after intense diplomatic negotiations from the Italian government and the Vatican ended her almost year-long ordeal.

“Today we are happy, this is a day of celebration,” Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said as he greeted Ms Ibrahim and her family with his wife Agnese and Italy’s foreign minister, Federica Mogherini.

“This gesture by Sudan is testimony to the friendship between our country and Italy’s choice to be a protagonist in this event,” said Mr Pistelli.

^{Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag (L) and her children are photographed after landing at Ciampino Airport (EPA)}

Mr Pistelli first met Ms Ibrahim two weeks ago at the American embassy in Khartoum, where she and her family had sought refuge after a failed attempt to travel to the US.

They were thwarted when she was again detained by authorities, this time claiming she was travelling on fake documents, an allegation she denied.

He said her passport was only returned on Wednesday afternoon and she was informed she could leave. “While we were doing the final procedures she did not even know if she would be able to go.”

Ms Ibrahim disembarked from the plane carrying two-month-old baby Maya in her arms with her son Martin, 18 months, and her husband who has US citizenship. They are expected to travel on to his home in New Hampshire in the coming days, where family and friends are preparing a welcoming party.

"I have just spoken to Daniel briefly by phone so far and he is very excited and very happy," said his brother Gabriel Wani. "We don't know yet when they'll be coming back here, but we hope it's soon and we're ready to welcome Daniel back and to welcome Meriam and their children to their new home."

Elshareef Ali Mohammed, a lawyer for the couple, told The Telegraph: “They were so very happy when they knew they would finally be leaving Sudan. It has been incredibly difficult for them all.”

Mr Pistelli said she and her children were in excellent health.

The deputy minister said Pope Francis had expressed “his gratitude and joy” when he was informed of Ms Ibrahim’s arrival.

She gave birth shackled in a Khartoum jail cell in May while awaiting execution by hanging for refusing to renounce Christianity. Her Muslim father had claimed she had abandoned Islam and committed adultery with her Christian husband, as mixed-faith marriages are not recognised in Sudanese courts.

She however insisted that she was raised a Christian by her Ethiopian Orthodox mother after her father left them when she was a young child.

The case drew international outrage and the country’s Supreme Court threw out the death sentence in June.

Ms Ibrahim’s previous attempt to leave the country just after her release from prison was thwarted when she was once again detained by authorities, this time claiming she was travelling on fake documents, an allegation she denied.

Mr Renzi mentioned Ms Ibrahim’s case in his speech to inaugurate Italy’s six-month European Union presidency earlier this month.

“If there is no European reaction we cannot feel worthy to call ourselves ‘Europe’,” Mr Renzi said.

^{Daniel Wani, husband of Meriam, is helped into the airport after arriving in Italy (EPA)}

On Thursday Sudan’s Ambassador to Rome, Amira Daoud Hassan Gornass, said Ms Ibrahim’s arrival was due to the “great friendship between Italy and Sudan” and the mutual respect between the two countries.

Ms Gornass told Adnkronos news agency that Khartoum had agreed to Ms Ibrahim’s departure with her Sudanese passport “after all the accusations against her were withdrawn”.

Human rights groups applauded the news that Ms Ibrahim had finally been able to leave Sudan, but highlighted continuing repression of Christians in the North African country.

Olivia Warham, director of Waging Peace, a UK NGO that campaigns against genocide and systematic human rights violations in Sudan, said millions of Sudanese Christians faced daily brutality and ethnic cleansing by the Sudanese regime.

“Three years ago President Bashir made it plain there would be no room for non-Muslims in his Islamist Sudan. He has been good to his word, crushing dissent and systematically killing ethnic and religious minorities. Regular aerial bombardment by the Sudanese armed forces destroys communities and Christian hospitals, forcing people to flee from their fields to hide in the Nuba mountains,” she said.

“It is shocking that Bashir’s ideology of elimination provokes nothing more than the occasional words of regret from the international community, when we should be applying targeted smart sanctions on the architects of these atrocities.”