From Victim to Victor - Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, The Sudanese Queen Lands In US

Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, the Sudanese woman who was to be condemned for converting to Christianity and twice freed has finally arrived in the US.

She arrived in New Hampshire on Thursday evening with her American husband and her children.

Welcoming her on a brief stopover in Philadelphia, the city's mayor, Michael Nutter described her as a "world freedom fighter".

There was global condemnation when she was sentenced to hang for apostasy by a Sudanese court earlier this year.

Mrs Ibrahim's father is Muslim so according to Sudan's version of Islamic law she is also Muslim and cannot convert.

She maintains she was never Muslim having been raised by her Christian mother.

Mrs Ibrahim flew from Rome to Philadelphia with her husband and two children, en route to Manchester, New Hampshire, where her husband has relatives and the family hope to settle.

Mrs Ibrahim had earlier visited Rome where she met with the Pope.