Sudan Pardons Briton in Islam Insult Case

KHARTOUM — A British teacher jailed for insulting Islam after allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad flew home today following a pardon by the president of Sudan, a British Embassy spokesman said.Gillian Gibbons was believed to be on an Emirates flight with a stopover in Dubai before heading to London.An embassy spokesman, Omar Daair, said that Ms. Gibbons has left Sudan.Ms. Gibbons’s conviction under Sudan’s Islamic Sharia law shocked Britons and many Muslims worldwide. It also inflamed passions among many Sudanese, some of whom called for her execution.She escaped harsher punishment that could have included up to 40 lashes, six months in prison, and a fine.In a written statement given to President al-Bashir and read by a British mediator, Ms. Gibbons said she did not intend to offend anyone and had great respect for Islam.Ms. Gibbons, 54, was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation for insulting Islam because she allowed her students to name a class teddy bear Muhammad, seen as a reference to Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. Her time in jail since her arrest November 25 counted toward the sentence.Mr. al-Bashir pardoned Ms. Gibbons after two British Muslim politicians from the House of Lords met with him to plead for her release.Lord Nazir Ahmed, who met with Mr. al-Bashir along with Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, said the case was an “unfortunate misunderstanding” and stressed that Britain respected Islam.In the statement, released by the presidential palace and read by Ms. Warsi to reporters today, Ms. Gibbons said she was sorry if she caused any “distress.”“I have a great respect for the Islamic religion and would not knowingly offend anyone,” Ms. Gibbons said in the statement. “I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends, but I am very sorry that I will be unable to return to Sudan.”A senior presidential adviser, Ghazi Saladdin, said Mr. al-Bashir insisted that Ms. Gibbons had a “fair trial,” but he agreed to pardon her because of the efforts by the British Muslim delegation.During her trial, the weeping teacher said she had intended no harm.The naming of the teddy bear was part of a class project for her 7-year-old students at the private Unity High School. She asked the students to pick names for it and they proposed Abdullah, Hassan, and Muhammad, and in September, the pupils voted to name it Muhammad, he said.Each child was allowed to take the bear home on weekends and write a diary about what they did with it. The diary entries were collected in a book with the bear’s picture on the cover, labeled, “My Name is Muhammad,” he said. The bear itself was never labeled with the name, he added.Another staff member at the school complained about the bear’s name, leading to Ms. Gibbons’s arrest.

Sudan Pardons Briton in Islam Insult Case

Sudan Pardons Briton in Islam Insult Case

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