|
Brown welcomes 'teddy' ruling
03/12/2007 13:06 - (SA)
London - Britain welcomed the pardoning on Monday of a teacher jailed in Sudan for naming a teddy bear Mohammed as a victory for common sense, stressing there had been an "innocent misunderstanding".
"I was delighted and relieved to hear the news that Gillian Gibbons is to be freed," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said soon after the announcement of the 54-year-old teacher's imminent release.
"Common sense has prevailed," he added in a statement after she was pardoned by Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir. He said she was to be handed over to the British embassy in Khartoum "after what must have been a difficult ordeal".
A Sudanese court last Thursday sentenced Gibbons to 15 days in prison for insulting religion by naming a teddy bear after Islam's prophet at the exclusive English school where she taught in Khartoum.
She was pardoned after two Muslim members of the House of Lords, Lord Nazir Ahmed and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, travelled to Khartoum and lobbied the Sudanese government.
'She had done nothing wrong'
Brown noted that British Muslim groups had voiced "strong support for her case" and paid tribute to the work of the two British Muslim peers.
"I applaud the particular efforts of Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi in securing her freedom. I am also grateful to our officials for all their work behind the scenes," he added.
The Muslim Council of Britain, the country's main umbrella group for Islamic organisations, lamented the whole affair.
"Gillian should never have been arrested in the first place, let alone held in jail. She had done nothing wrong," said spokesperson Inayat Bunglawala.
"It will be wonderful to see her back in the UK. I am sure she will be welcomed by both Muslims and non-Muslims after her quite terrible ordeal at the hands of the Sudanese authorities."
|
News
