Two names and two families at the heart of a tragedy . Al-Samani al-Hadi is one of three brothers , and what he calls their `` private family business '' has captured the attention of the world . `` Firstly I want to say , I am the brother of the convicted woman Abrar al-Hadi '' , he tells CNN in his first sit-down interview since the woman he claims is his sister -- known as Mariam Yahya Ibrahim in media reports -- was sentenced to death by a court in Sudan for abandoning the Muslim faith . The woman , 27 , was raised as a Christian by her mother and is married to a Christian man . But because her father -- who deserted the family when the woman was a child -- was Muslim , the courts consider her to be the same and asked her to recant her faith . She refused , and is now languishing in Omdurman Women 's Prison , just outside Khartoum . `` Her name is n't Mariam , her name is Abrar al-Hadi . I am al-Samani al-Hadi Mohamed Abdullah , her full -- older -- brother , '' al-Hadi , speaking to CNN from an Islamic Center in Omdurman , tells us as he rattles off dates and details in an attempt to prove this is the sister he grew up with . He says she started primary school in 1992 , and middle school eight years later . He even remembers the score she got on a critical exam -- `` she got a 73.7 percent , '' according to al-Hadi . Al-Hadi says his mother and brothers attended their sister 's university graduation ceremony in Khartoum . Nothing , he says , seemed amiss . Then , he says , she met her husband Daniel and his sister . He claims Daniel -- whom he called `` the Priest '' -- fed his sister `` potions '' to convert her to Christianity . Daniel Wani and his wife tell a very different story . They say they were introduced through his sister in 2009 and married in 2011 . Mariam , as Wani calls his wife , was a committed Christian -- attending church with a frequency that far outstripped his own . Wani says he never saw the man claiming to be his brother-in-law until the trial began . When I put this to Al-Samani al-Hadi , he tells me : `` Then she is lying to both the Christians and the Muslims . '' `` She went missing in Ramadan [ July ] last year for 45 days . That 's when we went to the police . When she was picked up we found her face was different , the way she looked at us was different . She was bewitched . `` When she stood in front of the court she said her name was Mariam Yahya . We were shocked . '' The case dragged on for seven months , during which time they brought fingerprint and identity documentation , photocopies of which have since been disseminated to local reporters . The documents -- which the court ruled to be genuine -- purport to show that the fingerprints recorded for the national identity card issued in the name of `` Abrar '' at the Sudanese government registry offices were an exact match to those the court took from Mariam . Wani told CNN that even if his wife is released , he fears for his family 's safety from al-Hadi and his brothers . Wani is a U.S. citizen and is attempting to secure asylum there for his wife , along with citizenship for his two children . That process , he says , is being delayed by U.S. demands for paternity testing of the children . When asked by reporters earlier in the week if this was true , State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said , `` Genetic testing is a useful tool for verifying a biological relationship . '' Mariam -- or Abrar -- is currently hoping her that the courts will believe the story of her life as she tells it , according to her husband . She insists that she was brought up by a Christian mother and has never practiced Islam . And in spite of visits by religious scholars and Sudanese government officials pressuring her to recant , it 's a story she 's sticking to . I found myself returning to the same question time and again in this interview -- is al-Hadi really prepared to see the woman he claims is his sister killed ? `` It 's one of two ; if she repents and returns to our Islamic faith and to the embrace of our family then we are her family and she is ours . We are prepared to hold her dearer than the apples of our eyes . But if she refuses she should be executed . '' Even as all eyes are on Sudan 's Court of Appeal , for al-Hadi there is no turning back . `` Why would I indulge my humanity , my emotions and incur the wrath of my Lord ? That 's not how it works for us . '' READ MORE : Husband of jailed woman fears for family 's lives . READ MORE : Sudan 's Christians `` scared to pray '' after ruling .
Man claims to be brother of Christian woman sentenced to death for apostasy in Sudan . Al-Samani al-Hadi says the woman he claims is his sister should recant or be executed . Woman 's husband says he had never seen al-Hadi before his wife 's trial began . Western leaders have decried the verdict and asked Khartoum to free the woman .