KHARTOUM, Sudan -- The Sudanese Christian woman whose death sentence for apostasy was overturned but who was detained again this week is now at the U.S. embassy for her own "safety."

Her lawyer, ElShareef Ali Mohammed, said Friday that after 27-year-old Meriam Ibrahim left a Khartoum police station the night before, where she had been detained along with her two children and husband on charges of forging travel documents, she headed to the embassy for fear of "assault" either by relatives or angry residents.

A U.S. official confirms Ibrahim is at the embassy and says diplomats are trying to arrange her departure from Sudan. The official spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authorization to speak to the media.