Christian Woman Reveals Why She Risked Execution and Rejected Forced Conversion to Islam: 'I Was Sure That God Would Stand by My Side

Fox News' Megyn Kelly sat down recently with Meriam Ibrahim, the Sudanese Christian woman who was arrested and sentenced to death for apostasy before fleeing to the United States this summer with her husband and two young children.

In a segment that aired Monday night, Ibrahim said that the U.S. embassy in Sudan initially ignored her appeals for help, turning her away at the beginning of her plight.

"In the beginning before I went to prison, [my husband] Daniel and I first went to the U.S. embassy," she said. "The consul refused to speak to us and hear the details of the problem. She refused to deal with us and told us to go to the U.N."

That said, she credited Jerry P. Lanier, a former ambassador to Uganda and a State Department official, with standing by her and ensuring she received the freedom she deserved.

Meriam Ibrahim, left, and her husband, Daniel Wani, of Sudan, are greeted by family and friends shortly after arriving in Manchester, N.H., Thursday, July 31, 2014. Ibrahim, who refused to recant her Christian faith in the face of a death sentence that was later overturned, will make their new home in New Hampshire. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) 

Ibrahim, 27, who is now safe and living with her family in New Hampshire, also told Kelly what it was like to be detained and held while pregnant and to fight for her life, as imams and Muslim leaders visited her in prison and demanded she renounce her Christian faith.

"The situation was difficult, but I was sure that God would stand by my side," she said. "I relied only on my faith."

Ibrahim described how she continually refused to abide by imams' demands that she embrace Islam, noting that she was given three days to renounce her faith — a request and timeline she ignored.

Kelly asked why she didn't simply comply and tell the scholars what they wanted to hear in exchange for her life back.

"It's not possible, because it's not true," she said, noting that she wasn't willing to compromise. "It's my right to follow the religion of my choice ... faith means life. If you don't have faith, you're not alive."

Additionally, she described the "difficult circumstances" she faced having a baby while imprisoned and shackled — a subject she described in detail earlier this summer.

"I had to give birth in chains," she said.

Igrahim implored viewers to pray for her, noting that her life in America is not yet stable. That said, she is elated to be united with her husband, Daniel Wani, an American citizen, and the couple’s two young children, Martin and Maya.

"The only thing I'm guilty of is wanting to live my life the way I choose," she added.

Watch the interview below:

As TheBlaze previously reported, Ibrahim was first arrested and charged with adultery in August 2013 and was later also charged with apostasy in February 2014 after she said she was a Christian and not a Muslim, according to the BBC.

She claimed that she became a Christian after her father, a Muslim, abandoned her family. Ibrahim’s Ethiopian mother, a Christian, then raised her and she adopted her mother’s faith.

Shariah law in Sudan requires that children follow their father’s faith, which led to the initial charges against her.

Originally, Ibrahim was sentenced to 100 lashes for adultery, since her marriage to a Christian is not permitted under the law, according to the New York Daily News.

After being released on these charges, she was detained again along with her husband and children at a Sudanese airport in July and accused of falsifying travel documents.

After being released, Ibrahim and her family sought shelter in the U.S. Embassy and had been living there for the past month before their release to Italian authorities and their subsequent trip back to the U.S.