The family of the Christian mother-of-two on death row in Sudan have angrily accused the country's government of 'saying one thing and doing something else' as hopes for her release fade.
Relatives of Meriam Ibrahim told MailOnline that they were 'frustrated and worried' that she had not been let go - despite the Sudanese foreign ministry undersecretary Abdallah Alazrag promising her freedom.
Gabriel Wani, Meriam's brother-in-law, said they were already so disillusioned that they would only believe the promises when she was actually released.
Meriam, 27, a doctor, has been in jail in the Sudanese capital Khartoum since September and was sentenced to death for apostasy and adultery by the country’s strict Islamic courts.
A judge ruled that she had broken the law because her father was a Muslim she should worship Islam - and that she could not marry Daniel, a biochemist who is a naturalized US citizen, because they are both Christians.
Meriam’s case has attracted international outrage, not least because she will be given 100 lashes within two weeks unless her appeal is a success.
She also gave birth to her daughter Maya while in shackles in jail. Her son 20-month-old Martin has been held with her at all times in her cell.
In an interview with MailOnline Gabriel, a mental health counsellor who lives near his brother in Manchester, New Hampshire, said: ‘We will only believe that she is free when she is let out and arrives here in the US.
‘I said from the start that with the Sudanese government we can expect anything and that’s what has happened.
‘They are saying one thing and doing something else. We are frustrated and worried. It’s not surprising but we just want her freed’.
At the end of last week the international pressure to release Meriam appeared to have having an effect.
The governments of the US and the UK had condemned her ‘barbaric’ treatment, British Prime Minister David Cameron had called for her to be freed, as had Hillary Clinton and actress and human rights campaigner Mia Farrow.
An Amnesty petition attracted more than 900,000 signatures and the Twitter hashtag ‘#savemeriam’ began trending.
Hopes were raised when Alazrag said in an interview over the weekend that Meriam would be ‘freed within days’ and ‘will definitely not be executed’.
However the Sudan Tribune has now reported that Sudan’s foreign ministry spokesperson Abu Bakr al-Sideeg did not know of any plans to release Meriam ‘before a ruling from an appeals court’.
Campaigners had said that they feared the Sudanese government was just ‘playing games’ to try and get the international community off its back.
In many countries the headlines in the newspapers on Sunday was that Meriam was ‘to be freed’ but the reality now appears to be different.
MailOnline can also reveal that Meriam has come under 'intense pressure' in recent days to renounce her Christian faith.
A spokeswoman for the US-based campaign group Sudan Justice Centre, which has been paying for her legal fees, said that she was determined not to give in.
She said: 'They have been promising Meriam money and security if she becomes a Muslim. 'They have said they will protect her and her family if she does what they want.
'She has had clerics in her cell practically the whole day telling her to give up her Christian faith. 'She feels like she is under a lot of pressure but she won't do what they want.'
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