Sudan Protesters: Execute U.K. Teacher

Teacher Jailed For Naming Teddy Bear "Muhammad" Appeals For Tolerance Towards Muslims

(CBS/AP)  The teacher jailed in Sudan for inciting racial hatred appealed for tolerance Friday in a conversation with her son - her first remarks since being jailed for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad.

"One of the things my mum said today was that 'I don't want any resentment towards Muslim people'," her son John Gibbons told The Associated Press. "She's holding up quite well."

Earlier, thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and knives, rallied Friday in a central square and demanded the execution of a British teacher convicted of insulting Islam for allowing her students to name a teddy bear "Muhammad."

The protesters streamed out of mosques after Friday sermons, as pickup trucks with loudspeakers blared messages against Gillian Gibbons, the teacher who was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation.

They massed in central Martyrs Square, outside the presidential palace, where hundreds of riot police were deployed, although they did not attempt to stop the rally.

"Shame, shame on the U.K.," protesters chanted.

They called for Gibbons' execution, saying, "No tolerance: Execution," and "Kill her, kill her by firing squad."

The women's prison where Gibbons is being held is far from the site, as is the Unity High School where she taught, which is under heavy security protection.

In response to the protests, Gillian Gibbons was moved from the women's prison near Khartoum to a secret location said her chief lawyer Kamal al-Gizouli shortly after visiting her to discuss the verdict.

"They moved this lady from the prison department to put her in other hands and in other places to cover her and wait until she completes her imprisonment period," he said, adding that she was in good health. "They want by hook or by crook to complete these nine days without any difficulties which would have an impact on their foreign relationship."

Some of the protesters, who an Associated Press reporter at the scene said numbered as many as 10,000, carried clubs, knives and axes but not automatic weapons, which some have carried at past government-condoned demonstrations, suggesting Friday's rally was not organized by the government.

The teacher wept in court Thursday as she heard her prison sentence, insisting she never meant to offend. She avoided a much heavier possible punishment of 40 lashes.

The sentence and quick seven-hour trial Thursday were aimed at swiftly resolving the case, which had put Sudan's government in an embarrassing position - facing the anger of Britain on one side and potential trouble from powerful Islamic hard-liners on the other.

The defense said the case was sparked by a school secretary with a grudge. But it escalated as Muslim clerics sought to drum up public outrage against what it called a Western plot to insult Islam's Prophet Muhammad and demanding Gibbons be punished.

The government, which has often touted its Islamic credentials, encouraged past protests over cartoons seen as insulting the prophet published in European papers. But its moves in this case suggested it feared the case could hurt its reputation in the West.

The teacher, Gillian Gibbons, "was in tears" when she testified in court Thursday, a member of her defense team, Abdel-Khaliq Abdallah, told The Associated Press.

"She said that she never wanted to insult Islam" by allowing the children to name the stuffed toy Muhammad, a common name among Muslim men, the lawyer said, speaking outside the courtroom. Media were barred from the chamber.

Gibbons, 54, was found guilty of "insulting the faith of Muslims" and sentenced to 15 days in jail, followed by deportation, said Ali Mohammed Ajab, a human rights lawyer on the defense team. The charge is a lesser offense in the article of the criminal code under which she was tried, which includes several possible charges.

Prosecutors had pressed for conviction on a heavier charge under the same article - inciting religious hatred, which carries a punishment of up to 40 lashes, six months in prison and a fine.

A judge leaving the courtroom confirmed the verdict to reporters, but refused to give his name.

Britain said it was "extremely disappointed with the sentence." London had been conducting delicate diplomatic efforts to ensure she received no punishment for what it said was a "misunderstanding."

In London, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband summoned the Sudanese ambassador after the verdict and sentence. During the 45-minute meeting, Miliband "expressed in the strongest terms our concern at the continued detention of Gillian Gibbons," the Foreign Office said in a statement. Miliband also spoke on the phone with Sudan's acting foreign minister.

Gibbons' supporters in Khartoum were divided over the verdict. Ajab, a human rights lawyer on the defense team, called the ruling "very unfair," blaming "hard-liners trying to make some noise."

But the director of Gibbons' Unity High School, Robert Boulos, said the lawyers hired by the school would not appeal, noting she could have received a heavier sentence. He said Gibbons, jailed since Sunday, has already served five days in prison and would only have to serve 10 more.

The case began with a classroom project on animals in September at the private school, which has 750 students from elementary to high school levels, most from wealthy Sudanese Muslim families.

Gibbons had one of her 7-year-old students bring in a teddy bear, then asked the class to name it and they chose the name Muhammad.

Each student then took the teddy bear home to write a diary entry about it, and the entries were compiled into a book with the bear's picture on the cover, titled "My Name is Muhammad," Boulos said.

But an office assistant at the school, Sara Khawad, complained to the Ministry of Education that Gibbons had insulted the prophet. Khawad testified at Thursday's trial, chief defense lawyer Kamal Djizouri said.

Khawad "was doing this out of revenge against the administration," Djizouri said. He did not elaborate. But the director of the school's Parent-Teacher Association, Isam Abu Hasabu, claimed Khawad had argued with the principal before the incident.

Comparing the Prophet Muhammad - Islam's most revered figure - to an animal or a toy could be insulting to Muslims. But Boulos said that, contrary to earlier reports, no parents had complained.

"It's just a teddy bear," Boulos said.

The government issued orders to clerics not to deliver inflammatory sermons Friday about the case or against foreigners, a senior government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the government had also ordered officials not to discuss the case.

The north of Sudan bases its legal code on Islamic law, and President Omar al-Bashir often seeks to burnish his religious credentials, playing up to his hard-line supporters.

But in Gibbons' case, the government appeared reluctant to let hard-liners steer it into tensions with Britain and the West. Sudan is already facing international scorn and charges of war crimes in Darfur, where the government is waging a brutal fight against non-Muslim rebels, reports CBS News correspondent Richard Roth.

Public pressure by Western governments over the Darfur conflict has eased recently, with a U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force preparing to deploy.

[gkc99]

Islam isn''t a religion.

It''s a police state.

[radiob-2009]

Gibbons, 54, was found guilty of "insulting the faith of Muslims" and sentenced to 15 days in jail, followed by deportation, said Ali Mohammed Ajab, a human rights lawyer on the defense team. The charge is a lesser offense in the article of the criminal code under which she was tried, which includes several possible charges.

Gibbons had one of her 7-year-old students bring in a teddy bear, then asked the class to name it and they chose the name Muhammad.


Hmmm the children named the teddy bear are they being tried or the parents of the children?

[jaeater]

Fromm the sound of things, assuming the prophet agrees, he should be named Modummed

[displeased]

The black eye that the Muslims have given themselves keeps getting bigger.

[radiob-2009]

Gibbons had one of her 7-year-old students bring in a teddy bear, then asked the class to name it and they chose the name Muhammad.


So why are the Sudanese not calling for their trial, the children and parents of the children along with their execution?

[cathaleen]

Get the teacher out of there and send her home to England. This is terrible. These people are crazy.

[radiob-2009]

They had no problem with murdering 200,000 of their own people and displacing 2 million so why try the teacher why did they not try the children and the parents of the children?

[ksjeff-2009]

More proof that Islam is a gutter religion that is intent on world destruction. Hardline Muslims do not deserve tolerance, they need to be contained. I''m glad that the world is waking up to their barbarism.

[piercetheval]

That''s a total insult to the bear! The name Bear is another name for God in esoteric mysticism. Piercethevale.

[magoo2u1]

Islam is the only religion I think should be outlawed in America.

[theeggman369]

Give me a freak''n break here people, there are more people nammed Muhammad than any other name in the world. The world will never be safe from terrorist until all the RADICAL EXTREMIST are totally eliminated from the face of the earth. This brand of radical extremism is not representative of the majority of Muslims in the world, and are in fact an embarrasment to most Muslims. I''m sure the world would be a much better place without them.

[olebd]

Kids say the darndest things (chuckle-chuckle)



To hell with all these barbarians and all their followers. And you never hear any Muslims speaking out against this kind of logic.

[tonic1661]

why are islamic hardliners so violent? Why are christians so violent? fundamentalist christians want the war in iraq where innocent families are killed, but they do not want abortion. Fundamentalist beliefs in any religion are an abortion.

because they are zealot''s beliefs which practice no tolerance.

[djberson]

Just when I thought they couldn''t get any crazier or more ridiculous.....

[radiob-2009]

Come on Sudan show us that you can be fair, try the children who named the bear and the parents of the children who allowed the children to continue calling the bear Muhammad. You had no problem murdering 200,000 of your own so whats a couple of children and their parents?

[iamojuve]

These people are out of control. Their behavior and senselessness is appalling.

[olebd]

That poor lady probably had every intention of helping little children learn and this is the thanks she gets. These people deserve to live in dirt.

[bensondana]

Fine. Let them eat camel dung for the next decade. Eliminate 100% of all foreign aid and assistance of any kind, public and private. Idiocy should require consequences. Too bad, so sad.

[iamojuve]

These people are out of control. Their behavior and senselessness is appalling.

[gunny541]

I think it is kind of ironic that the muslims are going after a citizen of a country that is trying to bow down to all that they ask for. GB pulled it''s support from the US as did most other countries but the nice muslims are still killing and/or harrassing thier citizens. Makes you wonder. As for the so called non extremists muslims I have yet to hear any of them come out and disclaim the actions of these people in the name of thier religion. Even our own B. Obama has not done so. Sorry but I am afraid when it comes to the muslims I don''t have much faith in any of them. I am not profiling just a feeling developed by watching them.

[josie7876]

What kind of religion is this that they would kill in such ways? Does their God hate as they do? Such hate from people who claim to be so holy confuses me. And what about the children naming the bear? Apparently the children of these Muslims don''t understand their own faith, or they wouldn''t have wanted to name the bear Muhammad. Moses was a prophet and as a child I had a cat maned Moses because he was the first kitten to leave the birthing bed and the others followed him. Was I to be killed and punished? My religion doesn''t hate, my God wouldn''t want me to hate. I would imagine my God to be laughing at my decision to name my kitten Moses. To the comment that Islam isn''t a religion, it''s a police state...I agree. I hope Gibbons gets out of there safe and alive! She doesn''t deserve this. Shes a teacher. The Muslims in Sudan should be thankful they even have such an opportunity to have a teacher from any country willing to go to their land and teach their children. They are cutting their own throats and burning bridges. Their mistake. I''ll pray for Ms. Gibbons. I want to hear that she is home and safe. That she is able to put this behind her knowing she has done nothing wrong.

[fibonacci_]

Execute her? Those people are absolutely insane. Curse that religion - it might bring some people comfort but it has caused practically nothing but destruction for the rest of us in the last few years. Thank you Islam.

[mrjimmy62-2009]

Ms. Gibbons never intended to willfully offend anyone and made an honest mistake by allowing the children to name the class teddy bear after the prophet Muhammad. Her apologetic statments and remorseful attitude in court confirm that she understands the implications of what she has done and regrets her actions. By loudly calling for Ms. Gibbons execution after the court has passed its judgement and imposed sentence as it sees fit, the Sudanese people are showing severe disrespect towards their own government. They should be publicly lined up and flogged and slashed with their own clubs and knives.

[mikep1232]

Muslims the world over should be embarrassed about this jackassery. And muslims in the West need to speak out against primitivism like this. Shame on you, Sudan!

[justfacts2]

And to think the U.S. used to back the Sudanese. Makes you wonder what in the world we were protecting. This is just sick and unjustified.

[mitywhity]

Since they openly say that the quran allows them to lie to infidels, there is no way that you can trust, believe, or have peace with these people. Who is an extremist? The ones who actually obey their book. So, if faithfulness to the quran results in widespread death and oppression, you just have to withdraw from these people and count them all enemies unless you want to convert to their counterfeit religion.

[gunownerdan]

ISLAM IS A RELIGION OF LOVE.......


Love of bigotry,
Love of intolerance,
Love of hypocrisy,
Love of theocracy,
Love of gender inequality,
Love of jihad(holy war),
Love of suicide bombers,
Love of car bombs,
Love of kidnappings,
Love of beheadings,
Love of hijackings,
Love of death and destruction to any and every human on earth(especially fellow Muslims)!

If any religion is stuck in the DARK AGES, it''s fundamentalist Islam for sure.

[tnolley-2009]

Why is this even newsworthy? The entire civilized world knows that Muslims hate modern civilization and will stop at nothing to hurt us every chance they can get.

[Ed0719]

The islamic extremists are simply a bit further along in their extremism than our own christian variety. The problem is not one or the other, it is ANY religious extremism. All of them should be dealt with in the same manner. All of them are potential terrorists, yet we ignore the ones growing right here in our own midst, to our detriment.

I quite agree with the abandonment of Africa. There is nothing there worth putting up with this ***. Get everything we have out of there and leave them to fend for themselves.

[gunownerdan]

I''ve never been more proud to be an infidel!

[hollyt2-2009]

they have way to much time on thier hands. This is Barbaric. I am slowly loosing all respect for Muslims. Im to the point that if they want to kill go ahead and kill each other.Put an end to all thier own misery.

[spaceaze-2009]

Is something missing here. The KIDS named the bear, not her.....

[Scooter68]

"The government, which has often touted its Islamic credentials, encouraged past protests over cartoons seen as insulting the prophet published in European papers. But its moves in this case suggested it feared the case could hurt its reputation in the West. "

What reputation ? The country of Sudan is just another backwater hole in the ground sinking deeper and deeper in to the abyss of Islamic fundamentalism with hate as it main source of energy.

[fibonacci_]

"9.13] What! will you not fight a people who broke their oaths and aimed at the expulsion of the Apostle, and they attacked you first; do you fear them? But Allah is most deserving that you should fear Him, if you are believers.
[9.14] Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace, and assist you against them and heal the hearts of a believing people."

Go ahead, read it in context too, does not sound much better. This is a social virus of the human mind. Destructive memes.

[pensacola88]

It sounds like the book author offended some people by writing about a group of people and their relationships, without thoroughly understanding them.

[jeff-fla]

This is what happens, when any religion is not kept separate form the government.The laws are religious and based on writings hundreds of years ago. It is not the Muslim faith that causes this, it is the government following the faith. Christian were no better just a few years back.

[spaceaze-2009]

Am I missing something here....
THE KIDS NAMED THE BEAR,
not her.
Hmmmm....

[toolmangler-2009]

They are hoping to scare the west away from confrontation with Iran, They don''''t realize that those tactics are "In your face" and the USA sees that as an insult. In the face of insults the USA says "Bring it on".

[lavnac]

WHat type of religion teaches to kill anyone or anything that you don''t agree with? It''s no wonder famine strikes these people on a regular basis.

They live in a fantasy world of 70 virgins (what do the women get when they die?) after death.

[fibonacci_]

72 chip n dales?

[hollyt2-2009]

they have way to much time on thier hands. This is Barbaric. I am slowly loosing all respect for Muslims. Im to the point that if they want to kill go ahead and kill each other.Put an end to all thier own misery.

[gunownerdan]

Our founding fathers were very wise men, and the Bill Of Rights is one of the greatest gifts they could have ever given to us.

"Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all law-religions, or religions established by law." -- Thomas Paine

[beehive21-2009]

What me worry ? we are dealing with a Brainwashed group fo people who are trained and programmed since they are very young ,behold the result of the clerics and brainwashing,a great display of robots coming out of the prayers to demand death,some prayer meeting,and they''re on TV that''s is what they strive for, TV, hey World look at us ,we be tough,watch us ruff up the this women like a junkyard dog,some pray meeting.

[radiob-2009]

They are hoping to scare the west away from confrontation with Iran, They don''''''''t realize that those tactics are "In your face" and the USA sees that as an insult. In the face of insults the USA says "Bring it on".


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by ToolMangler

With Sudan or Iran?

[gunownerdan]

When one religion controls a government, freedom and liberty is impossible.

www.au.org

[brdickenson]

We need to eliminate the threat. I disagree with the war in Iraq because we were naive in thinking we could reason with the unreasonable. It is time we become unreasonable. The Western World should unite and threaten massive air strikes unless they release this teacher. Starting with the site of the protestors.

[radiob-2009]

Rudy the smooth talking Gigoloani should immediately go to Sudan and negotiate this, hmmm he might pick up another stray.

[aregularguy1]

If they feel so vehement about their beliefs regarding punishment for such a ridiculous infraction (if you can even call it that), then this kind of psychosis will find fault in everything they see and hear.

As a nation, we need to stop supporting this kind of nonsense and let natural selection run its course. Given the means, these mutant throwbacks from the dark ages will use their own anger and intolerance against themselves until none remain. Then, and only then, will humans have made a significant step toward progress.

In the course of evolving to where we are today, millions of species and sub-species have vanished from the planet. In the grander vision of a truly peaceful future, in a thousand years will anyone notice if every Muslim was eradicated? Not a chance. It would be merely a blip in history.

But, if we allow the Muslim faith to continue and prosper, then the fate of humanity will be seriously challenged and we risk seeing Muslims the world over turn on us all like a rabid dog on its owner.

Arm them all! Men, women, and children! Let nature do what it does: strike down those who go against the improvement of the species.

This is not a case of a few extremists - this is all Muslims everywhere. As mentioned by another poster, if this is only a select few then where are the Muslim protesters against this paranoid and erratic behavior? You''re either with us or you''re against us.

And since you''re not with us, you ARE against us.

[gunownerdan]

What Britain needs to do now is demand the immediate deportation of the teacher or threaten to drop aid to Sudan. If the protests grow, the teacher''s life will be in much more danger.

[ianlou]

They live in a fantasy world of 70 virgins (what do the women get when they die?) after death.
Posted by Lavnac

They get rewarded with the opportunity to exist outside the Muslim world.