Sudanese President “Pardons” British Teacher

December 3, 2007 1:38 pm henrymunsonjr Sudan, Islamism beyond the Shibboleths

Munson: This teddy bear incident is trivial when compared  with the horrors of Darfur. It is nonetheless outrageous that a schoolteacher could face imprisonment or whipping because of a name she allowed her seven-year-old pupils to choose for a teddy bear. That such things still occur in the twenty-first century is unbelievable. Many Muslims are of course rightly shocked that the Sudanese government has once again done its best to perpetuate Western stereotypes about Islam.

Sudanese President Pardons British Teacher - New York Times, December 3, 2007

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 and released to British authorities. She was later reported to have left the country.

The British Embassy said the schoolteacher, Gillian Gibbons, was in the custody of its officials but refused to say where she was and when she would leave Sudan. However, a British Embassy spokesman was later quoted by the Associated Press as saying that the teacher had left Sudan on a flight back to Britain.

The president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, made the decision to pardon Ms. Gibbons after a meeting this morning in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, 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. Despite the pardon, she was still required to leave the country.

Ms. Gibbons was sentenced to 15 days in jail last week for insulting Islam and was to be released Dec. 10. On Friday, hundreds of angry Sudanese in Khartoum protested what they considered to be a lenient punishment. Under Sudanese law, Ms. Gibbons could have received 40 lashes and been jailed for six months.

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