Sudanese Christian convert woman flying to Italy: government official

ROME (Reuters) - A Sudanese woman who was spared a death sentence for converting from Islam to Christianity, and then barred from leaving Sudan, was due to arrive in Italy on Thursday, an Italian government official said. Mariam Yahya Ibrahim, 27, was on a plane accompanied by Italy's vice minister of foreign affairs, Lapo Pistelli, according to the official who asked not to be named. "Mariam, the young Christian woman held in Khartoum after being condemned to death for apostasy, should be arriving in Italy on a government flight," the official said in a text message, without specifying when the flight had left. (Reporting is by Giselda Vagnoni; Writing by Isla Binnie; Editing by Andrew Heavens)