“Prayer was my strength in prison”: Sudanese Woman Who Hid Bible Pages in Hair Shares, Prays for Persecuted People

Describing how she managed to keep her Bible in prison, Mariam narrated, “I had to cut its pages and hide them in my hair so I could read them in the bathroom. That was the only place I could open it without being discovered. I still carry that prison Bible with me everywhere I go.”

ACN reports that Mariam was arrested for apostasy and adultery because Sharia law mandated that she was a Muslim, like her father, even though she had been raised as a practicing Christian. 

She was sentenced to death in 2014 for alleged apostasy and to 100 lashes for alleged adultery, after refusing to renounce her Christian faith.

Although Mariam was unable to travel to Rome due to a last-minute visa issue, she sent ACN a heartfelt video message from the United States, where she now lives with her family. 

In her address, she expressed deep gratitude to ACN “for all the work, advocacy, and prayers carried out throughout the year on behalf of the persecuted Church”.

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“It brings so much hope to my heart to witness all this work and advocacy for those who suffer for their faith. I’m deeply grateful to my friends at Aid to the Church in Need for not forgetting the persecuted,” she said.

Recalling her ordeal in Sudan where she was born to a Muslim father and a Christian mother, Mariam said she was automatically considered Muslim under the country’s law. 

“I was accused because I grew up as a Christian, because I practiced my faith, and because I married a Christian man. That was considered a crime,” she explained.

During her pregnancy and imprisonment, she said she faced unimaginable hardship.

“I spent Christmas 2013 in prison. I discovered I was pregnant just before being jailed. That first night in the cell I was terrified and could only pray. My mother had passed away, my father’s family rejected me, and the media called me ‘unclean’, ‘infidel’ and ‘deserving of death’,” she narrated.

According to ACN’s Religious Freedom in the World Report 2025, over 5.4 billion people — nearly two-thirds of the global population — live in countries with serious violations of religious freedom.

Of the 196 countries that the Catholic foundation analysed between January 2023 and December 2024, 62 registered severe violations, 24 with systematic persecution and 38 with widespread discrimination based on faith.

Now able to express her faith, Mariam pledged to use her voice for those who still suffer for their faith.

“Persecution brings unimaginable pain, but God always gives strength,” she said.

Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.