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'Teddy' case: Britain 'saddened'
30/11/2007 08:10 - (SA)
London - Britain said it was "extremely disappointed" with the jailing of the teacher at the centre of the Mohammed teddy case in Sudan on Thursday, insisting the row was caused by an "innocent misunderstanding".
Foreign Secretary David Miliband summoned Sudan's ambassador to London for talks on the sentence, their second meeting on Thursday, shortly after a Khartoum court jailed Gillian Gibbons for 15 days and ordered her deportation for allowing a class of schoolchildren to name their teddy bear Mohammed.
Miliband said in a statement: "We are extremely disappointed that the charges against Gillian Gibbons were not dismissed.
"As I said this morning, our clear view is that this is an innocent misunderstanding by a dedicated teacher. Our priority now is to ensure Ms Gibbons' welfare and we will continue to provide consular assistance to her."
Mohammed 'popular name in Sudan'
According to Miliband: "I have called in the Sudanese Ambassador, Omer Siddig, this evening to explain the decision and discuss next steps."
Gibbons, a 54-year-old mother of two, was arrested earlier this week after letting her pupils call a teddy bear "Mohammed" as part of a class project.
Mohammed was a popular name in Sudan, but Islam forbidden any physical representation of the Prophet Muhammad. Islamic Sharia law applied in Khartoum, where alcohol was banned and women were expected to dress conservatively.
Gibbons appeared in court a day later, charged with insulting Islam and inciting religious hatred in a case that had pitted Sudan against its former colonial ruler, threatening to spark a diplomatic conflict.
The maximum sentence for breaching Article 125 of the penal code - publicly insulting or degrading any religion, its rites, beliefs and sacred items or humiliating its believers - was six months in jail, 40 lashes and a fine.
Gibbons 'whisked out of courtroom'
Her sentence would run from her arrest on Sunday, said her lawyer, making no mention of an appeal.
Gibbons was whisked out of the courtroom as soon as the verdict was read out, but had appeared well earlier in the hearing, wearing dark conservative clothes, according to witnesses.
Before her sentence was announced, a Sudanese embassy spokesperson said it was "unlikely" she would be convicted, and added that it was possible President Omar al-Bashir could intervene.
The case had triggered growing expressions of outrage in Britain, and concern from British Muslim groups.
"This matter is not worthy of arrest or detention and her continued detention will not help repair the misconceptions about Islam," said the London-based Ramadhan Foundation.
Inayat Bunglawala, spokesperson for the Muslim Council of Britain, an umbrella group of the country's Muslim organisations, said Gibbons "should never have been arrested in the first place, let alone convicted of any crime".
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