In this file handout picture obtained from the legal team and taken with a smart phone, Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag (seated C), a Christian Sudanese woman sentenced to hang for apostasy last month, poses for a picture with her husband Daniel Wani, a US citizen originally from South Sudan (L), her newborn baby and the couple’s 20-month-old son, one of her lawyers Mohanad Mustafa (R), and other members of the legal team at an undisclosed location in Khartoum, in this June 23, 2014 photo.

KHARTOUM: Muslim “relatives” of a Sudanese Christian woman hiding at the US Embassy are taking her to court to try to prove she belongs to their family, a lawyer said Tuesday.

The complainants are the same people who laid an apostasy charge against Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, 26, said the lawyer, Mohanad Mustafa.

Ishag was sentenced to death in May for apostasy from Islam, under Shariah. An appeals court later quashed the verdict and sentence.

“In fact, it is not her family” who filed the cases, Mustafa told AFP. “They want to get her in trouble. Somebody supports them. I can’t mention who.”

Mustafa confirmed that a case has been lodged against Ishag in family court “to prove that Meriam is Abrar and she is one of the family.”

Muslims refer to her as Abrar Al-Hadi Mohamed Abdalla.

Neither Ishag nor her lawyers have yet received documents confirming when the case will be heard, Mustafa said.

“I think the court will dismiss the case,” he added.

It is not a criminal action, meaning it would not affect her chances of traveling abroad.

Ishag is, however, charged criminally with forgery and providing false information in relation to a South Sudanese travel document she used last week while trying to leave Sudan for the United States, a day after the appeals court ruling.

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