Sudanese authorities are to free a woman who was sentenced to death for having abandoned the Islamic faith, a foreign ministry official says.

Meriam Ibrahim, who recently became a mother, will be freed from custody in a few days' time, the official said.

She gave birth earlier this week in jail near the capital, Khartoum, her lawyer has said.

Meriam Yehya Ibrahim Ishag married a Christian man and was sentenced to hang for apostasy earlier this month after refusing to renounce Christianity.

She is allowed to nurse her baby girl for two years before the sentence is carried out.

Born to a Muslim father, she was convicted by a Sharia court.

Sudan has a majority Muslim population, which is governed by Islamic law.