Sudanese President Pardons British Teacher

This is unfortunate, but understandable. It would be like the outrage of people in the Bible Belt if someone allowed an entire class to use Jesus for a teddy Bear's name.

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec. 3 — The British schoolteacher jailed in Sudan for allowing her 7-year-old pupils to name a teddy bear Muhammad was pardoned today by Sudan’s president. She was released to British authorities and will be sent back to England later today.
Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, made the decision after a meeting this morning in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, with two Muslim peers from Britain’s House of Lords, the upper house of Parliament.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain said he was "delighted and relieved" at the news and that "common sense had prevailed,” according to the BBC.
The schoolteacher, Gillian Gibbons, was sentenced to 15 days in jail last week for insulting Islam and was supposed to be released on Dec. 10. On Friday, hundreds of angry Sudanese in Khartoum protested what they considered to be a lenient punishment. Under Sudanese law, she could have been jailed for six months and received 40 lashes.
But meanwhile, British officials put heavy pressure on Sudan to release Ms. Gibbons, 54, saying that she had made an innocent mistake in allowing her students to give a class teddy bear the same name as Islam’s holy prophet. Muhammad also happens to be one of the most common names in the Muslim world.
In a way, Mr. Bashir was caught in the middle — or at least the Sudanese government tried to make it look that way. By letting Ms. Gibbons out early, he risks provoking Muslim hardliners in his country, who are among his key supporters.
But the case hit his desk at a time when United Nations officials and Western governments are increasingly complaining that Sudan is obstructing an expanded peacekeeping force for Darfur, the war-torn region of western Sudan.
Apparently, Mr. Bashir calculated that he didn’t need to isolate his government any further.
“This was all political,” said Kamal al-Gizouli, Ms. Gibbons’ defense attorney. “The government did this to show they are tolerant. They don’t need any more problems with the world and the international media.”
According to the BBC, Ms. Gibbons issued a statement today saying she was sorry for offending Muslims.
"I have been in Sudan for only four months but I have enjoyed myself immensely,” the statement said. "I have encountered nothing but kindness and generosity from the Sudanese people. I have great respect for the Islamic religion and would not knowingly offend anyone and I am sorry if I caused any distress.”
The teddy bear affair started in September when Ms. Gibbons, who taught at one of Sudan’s most exclusive private schools, began a project on animals and asked her class to suggest a name for a teddy bear. The class voted resoundingly for Muhammad.
As part of the exercise, Ms. Gibbons told her pupils to take the bear home, photograph it and write a diary entry about it. The entries were collected in a book, “My Name Is Muhammad.” Most of her students were Muslim and the children of wealthy Sudanese families.
The government said that when some parents saw the book, they complained to the authorities. Ms. Gibbons was arrested, and she went to trial last Thursday. After an all-day trial, the judge seemed to reach for a compromise by finding her guilty of insulting Islam but handing her a relatively light sentence.
That compromise seemed to please neither the Sudanese hardliners, nor the British. But Mr. al-Gizouli said he doesn’t expect further demonstrations.
“If the government doesn’t want people to go into the streets,” he said today, “they won’t go into the streets. That’s how it works here.”
After the pardon, Ms. Gibbons had been transferred to the British Embassy and was in its custody, before she was due to leave the country later today, Reuters reported.