Posted on 11/29/2007 8:48:43 PM PST by Huntress
The British teacher who let her pupils call a teddy bear Mohammed escaped a flogging yesterday - but must now endure 15 days in a notorious Sudan jail.
Gillian Gibbons will be incarcerated at the squalid Omdurman women's prison in Khartoum, which is massively overcrowded and infested with mosquitoes. The 54-year-old from Liverpool was said to be "stunned" by the sentence imposed for insulting Islam - after which she will be deported from Sudan.
Last night, her conviction and punishment were furiously condemned and the Foreign Office was criticised for not fighting her case more forcefully.
"The sentence is a mockery of justice and we consider Gillian to be a prisoner of conscience," said Mike Blakemore, of Amnesty International.
Malcolm Moss, a Tory member of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said: "This is disgraceful. She only named a teddy bear and she is serving 15 days in jail.
"It is tokenism by the Sudanese government. If they had really felt she had insulted Islam, they would have sentenced her to much longer. It seems they are scoring points.
"Our government dithered over intervening and this is what happens. We should have been a lot tougher, a lot sooner."
Foreign Secretary David Miliband called in the Sudanese ambassador for the second time in hours last night to protest over the verdict. He said: "We are extremely disappointed that the charges were not dismissed.
"Our clear view is that this is an innocent misunderstanding by a dedicated teacher. Our priority now is to ensure Mrs Gibbons' welfare and wellbeing."
Mrs Gibbons's MP, Louise Ellman, said: "I do realise that the sentence could have been harder, but 15 days in a jail in Sudan could be very, very harsh.
"I think there's distress and anger and I can't see much positive that has come from this. The sentence could have been harsher, but that's not exactly a positive thing at all."
The Omdurman prison where Mrs Gibbon will be locked up was built for 200, but now houses 1,200 women and 300 children, most of the adults jailed for illegally brewing alcohol.
Last night, her son John said the family are struggling to take in the news of her punishment. "It's really difficult at the moment, my head is everywhere," the 25-year-old marketing consultant added.
"I don't want the verdict to lead to any anti feeling towards Muslims. Everyone has been very nice, but one of my fears, and I imagine my mother's also, will be that this results in any sort of resentment towards Muslim people."
He is hoping to visit his mother in jail and urged the Foreign Office to help speed up the visa process.
The Muslim Council of Britain called the sentence completely unjustified.
"I'm utterly disappointed with this decision," said the council's Ibrahim Mogra. "We have been calling on the Sudanese authorities to show leniency, that this was a case of an innocent oversight, a misunderstanding, and there was no need for this to be escalated."
The verdict came at the end of a day of drama and farce in Khartoum that saw British diplomats initially prevented from entering the court.
Defence lawyers said they would appeal. But with the Sudan authorities planning a major security operation today amid expected protests by hardline Islamic leaders urging tougher sentencing, there were fears the tactic could backfire.
British officials said they would be pressing for a reduction in sentence, and the five days Mrs Gibbons has already spent in custody might count against the 15 to be served.
The Sudanese authorities were also said to have started preparing deportation documents for this weekend, leading to speculation she could be freed as early as tomorrow.
Ali Mohammed Ajab, a member of her defence team, described the verdict as "very unfair".
He said: "She apologised to the court - not that she had done something wrong - but said she was simply doing her job and did not mean any harm."
Sudan's top Muslim clerics had pressed their government to ensure the teacher was punished harshly, comparing her action to author Salman Rushdie's "blasphemies" against the Prophet.
Mrs Gibbons, a divorced mother-of-two, was arrested on Sunday and on Wednesday charged with insulting Islam, inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs.
It came after seven-year-old pupils chose to call a teddy bear Mohammed at the Unity High School in Khartoum, where she had worked since August.
During the court case behind closed doors yesterday it was revealed that the school's office assistant, Sara Khawad, had complained to the education authorities - leading to the teacher's arrest.
In a statement read to court, Mrs Gibbons tearfully stressed she had not meant to cause offence and pointed out that it had been her pupils who had chosen the name.
There were four prosecution witnesses, and several spoke up for the defence.
Isam Abu Hasabu, chairman of Unity High School's parent-teacher association, said: "The whole thing boiled down to a cultural misunderstanding. In our culture, we don't know the bear as a cuddly symbol of mercy."
Other teachers said many parents had written to the school offering support.
The school's Sudanese director, Robert Boulos, described Mrs Gibbons as "a marvellous teacher", adding: "She was even training our other primary teachers and is an asset to the school.'"
Yes this should only add to the ill will all thinking people have towards the extremist in Islam and further have us questioning what percentage of Islamist are like this. I see little evidence of “moderate” Islamic individuals or groups condemming this action.
I read today that a British Muslim organization has condemned the prosecution of the case. Sorry, I don’t remember where on the net I read it.
Thanks for that data point. The more moderate followers of Islam condem such actions the backbone governments will have to stand up to the idiots in their society. Is no one in the Islamic world object, the government of Sudan has little pressure on it to resist the local extremists.
After 15 days, this lady may change her politics.”
I think If she lives, she will be traumatized for life.
“After 15 days, this lady may change her politics.”
What are her politics?
You wrote: “I sorry but I can’t feel anything for this woman. She brought it all upon herself by being stupid enough to want to go work in muslim hellhole like Sudan.”
_______________________
My response: Yeah, who does she think she is trying to spread the word of God at a Christian school in the Sudan? It’s obviously her fault for being a Christian.
By the way, she got off light with a 15 day sentence. If she had blasphemed God and the Bible, the Bible tells us that she should have been put to death. Those Muslims don’t take their religion very seriously.
Where in the Bible does it say anything about blaspheming “the Bible”?
"I don't want the verdict to lead to any anti feeling towards Muslims. Everyone has been very nice, but one of my fears, and I imagine my mother's also, will be that this results in any sort of resentment towards Muslim people."I would say this too, as long as they held my mother in their savage, brutal clutches. Once she got out, I'd say what I really think: muzzies are pigs. (And then I'd apologize to pigs everywhere for the comparison.)
I hope she has enough wit to leave that country and go home after this.
Who knows what will happen in those 15 days in prison??
You’re right. My typo. I meant to type: “the God of the Bible.” In other words, I meant to write:
By the way, she got off light with a 15 day sentence. If she had blasphemed the God of the Bible, the Bible tells us that she should have been put to death. Those Muslims don’t take their religion very seriously.
Anyone who stays should be written off in the same manner as obsessed missionaries who go to dangerous places on this globe to convert head-hunters and end up in a crock-pot.
Leni
Dear Sudan:
Our royal subject, give back, or else.
-The Queen
I guess I can’t condemn naivete.
Apparently the office assistant, Sara Khawad used the teacher to get revenge against the administration of the school after an argument with the principal. One can only wonder why Khawad was so vindictive; she has a lot to answer for.
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