EXCLUSIVE: Sudanese mother freed from death sentence for marrying a Christian is now charged with fraud and BANNED from leaving the country as campaigners slam State Department for 'shameful' attempt to help her

Meriam Ibrahim was due to be executed for converting to Christianity

Mother-of-two was freed on Monday after nine months in jail

The Sudanese woman who was sentenced to death for being a Christian has been released from her latest detention but has been charged with new crimes, MailOnline can reveal.

Meriam Ibrahim has been accused of falsifying travel documents as she tried to leave the African country hours after the death penalty was dropped against her.

It is understood that the authorities told her she should have used the Muslim name she had when she was born, not the Christian name she uses after choosing to worship that faith.

Safety fears: Rights groups are concerned for Meriam Ibrahim and her family, pictured after her release Monday, after they were arrested at an airport in Sudan by the National Intelligence and Security Services

It is not clear if her husband Daniel Wani, who is from Manchester in New Hampshire, has also been charged with any offenses.

The new allegations are a huge setback to Meriam's hopes of leaving Sudan and a further sign that the Sudanese government is playing twisted games over her release.

Meriam, a doctor, is on bail which was put up by a friend. She cannot leave Sudan until this matter is resolved as part of her bail conditions.

It came as campaigners working to free the mother-of-two attacked the U.S. Department of State for its ‘shameful’ response to helping her.

Tina Ramirez, founder of religious freedom organization Hardwired, called for Congress to investigate the 'incredibly negligent' handling of Meriam Ibrahim’s case.

Meriam and her husband were detained at the airport of the Sudanese capital Khartoum when they tried to leave the country with their son Martin, 21 months, and daughter Maya, one month.

Arrest: Meriam's New Hampshire husband Daniel Wani, pictured with their baby girl, has also been detained Criticism: Daniel and Meriam on their wedding day. Freedom group Hardwired has called the U.S. embassy's handling of the couple's case 'shameful'

Meriam was only freed on Monday after nine months in jail, during which she was shackled to the floor while she gave birth to Maya.

NINE MONTHS IN HELL: MERIAM IBRAHIM'S LONG ROAD TO FREEDOM 2011 - Meriam Ibrahim, who was raised Christian by a Christian mother, marries Daniel Wani, a Catholic from South Sudan who is a U.S. citizen September 2013 - Meriam is arrested on charges of apostasy and adultery for practicing Christianity and marrying Wani, a Christian. Her son is held in prison with her

May 15, 2014 - Meriam, who is eight months pregnant, is sentenced to death by hanging and 100 lashes after refusing to renounce her religion May 23 - Meriam gives birth to baby Maya while shackled in prison May 28 - Mr Wani meets his baby daughter for the first time. Both children are held in prison with their mother because authorities won't release them to the care of a Christian May 30 - U.S. lawmakers join British MPs in calling for Sudan to release Meriam, as international outcry over her sentence increases

June 1 - Sudanese officials raise hopes when they claim they are planning to release Meriam - only to dash it when other officials deny she is getting clemency

June 18 - Sudanese authorities finally remove the shackles from Meriam's legs at the insistence of her doctors June 23 - A Sudanese court overturns Meriam's death sentence and orders her released from prison June 24 - Meriam, her husband and children re-arrested as they try to flee country

The following day, Tuesday, on what should have been her first full day of freedom, she instead found herself back in custody.

In an interview with MailOnline, Ramirez said that the State Department had been aware of Daniel and Meriam’s case since 2011 when they first married.

In September last year, when Meriam, 27, was first arrested, Daniel went to the U.S. embassy in Sudan three times but was told that the ambassador was too busy to see him.

Ramirez said: ‘The US government should have coordinated with the government of Sudan to get them out of the country. This is sloppy.

‘They have had three years to sort this out and whenever Daniel has gone to the U.S. embassy in Sudan for help they have refused.

‘I think that Congress should be investigating what happened here.

‘The US says that it cares about human rights issues and this is something they should be caring about. It’s a total failure, it’s shameful.’

Ramirez said it was a ‘good question’ as to why U.S. officials on the ground did not put Meriam and Daniel on their plane and make sure they were able to leave.

She likened it to the fiasco over the Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, who sparked a tense diplomatic row when America granted him asylum after he took refuge in the American embassy in Beijing, and said that America ‘should have learned its lesson’.

Ramirez said: ‘The State Department have been so incredibly negligent over this.’

When they got to the airport in Khartoum, a confrontation ensued between the group, their lawyers and about 40 members of the feared Sudanese security police.

At her daily press briefing on Tuesday, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf confirmed that Meriam, Daniel and their children were detained due to ‘issues related to their travel’.

She said that they had not been arrested and that the Sudanese government ‘has assured us of their safety’.

She said: ‘The State Department is engaging directly with Sudanese officials to secure their safe and swift departure from Sudan.’

Plight: Meriam, pictured with her two young children, was sentenced to death and 100 lashes but was later released

In a worrying twist, Meriam and Daniel were taken into custody by the feared National Intelligence and Security Services, MailOnline has confirmed.

NISS does not operate through the courts if it claims to be working on a matter of national security and can detain people indefinitely, Hardwired said.

The organisation was described as ‘Agents of Fear’ in a damning report by human rights campaigners Amnesty which outlined a catalogue of abuses they had carried out.

NISS is also notorious for taking prisoners to secret 'ghost houses' where they are tortured.

Daniel’s brother Gabriel, a naturalized American citizen who lives in Manchester, New Hampshire, told MailOnline: ‘This is very concerning. It’s bad news.

'They should be let go as soon as possible. My brother wanted to get out of Sudan as fast as he could, and now this has happened’.





