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.

[gaye5]

Mom_O_Truth, Sep 11th was not what caused America to go to Iraq, it was just the last straw, America had put up with American places being bombed since the 1970''s,, ships etc...and your people did nothing about it...
Most of those who burn American churches are Muslims..Around Jewish synagogues they have to have guards in all other non Muslims countries, why, to protect them from Muslims, and some even have high wired fences, Why,,,,
When your clerics, leaders and teachers stop preaching hatred, and tell their people that what they do is wrong and when it is taken out of the quran about killing all infidel until all the world is for Allah then we will know that we can live in peace with you... Mohammad raided and raided other towns even when they were sometimes asleep.. he skited that he had chased the Jewish people off their land killing the men and taking the women and children.. so dear Mom it could be that your ancestors were in fact Jews, as mohammad and his merry men married or had so many thousands of the jewish women for their slaves (with who mthey were allowed to have *** with).. hmmm These are of course the people that Mohammad said were pigs and apes..

[gaye5]

sorry nggr... but in some areas the men will get nothing as the courts will say that she must have provoked them and she will either be stoned to death or receive lashes, and might as well be dead, other places are not so harsh on the girl...If this girls family dare complain???

It is a very evil war cult.. I have read much of their holy books, and other than the first quarter of the quran it is a horrific book...
They will sort of live in peace amongst us until they have multiplied to become a force just as mohammad did.

[denn034]

Was the bear executed (pun intended)?

[nggr]

Common SENSE facts:
Posted by Mom_O_Truth at 11:49 AM : Dec 01, 2007

sorry,
but my common sense does not dictate that 10000 people protesting in favor of killing a woman by firing squad because she and her students named a teddy bear muhammad is justifiable.
not matter what the locale.
if this is such common sense to you, then go live there.
these type of people are all that is wrong with the world. i get a little crass and silly on these message boards, but i''m a reasonable guy to deal with in real life. the mindset of these people is barbaric.
why aren''t they in the street demanding that the men who pulled a woman out of a car and gang raped her be killed by firing squad? different culture, i know, in my opinion a barbaric culture that should be wiped off the foce of our current planet.
that makes common sense to me.

[mom_o_truth]

Common SENSE facts: 1) She is a teacher obligated to be sensitive to cultural and religious issues especially that 2) she chose to teach in a different country of non-Christian religion, she should live by the rules of that country and respect it%u2019s culture and it%u2019s religion. She chose to teach in Sudan. 3) After all she a mature woman of 54 and well aware of the history of Sudan as a former British mandate full of accumulated anger towards Brits because of how they lynched Sudanese and executed them publicly to set an example of terror back then 1956. She and the school director knew they live in a boiling pot and hence should have carefully considered each word and action. 4) There are 5% Christians living in Khartoum and south Sudan and none of those would name any animal %u201CJesus or Moses%u201D in respect of the Prophets names. 5) The Sudanese Government allows Christian missionaries and teaching of Christian and Jewish religions beside Islam in public and private schools following the Egyptian education system next door, while teaching religion is prohibited in U.S. schools. 6) GO CLEAN UP those who burn your Churches in Alabama and Georgia. AND ***%u2019s mob who is sucking your money in gas prices, spending half a $Billion/day on a war that killed over 4000 of our youth, 40,000 civilians to retaliate for 3,500 dead in 9/11, INSTEAD OF BLAMING the %u201Cescape goat%u201D for your own problems.

[gaye5]

Keithle1 Where do you think that welfare came from originally, it was not atheists, who did the teaching of children before governments took over.. it was not governments who did the nursing for nothing of the sick people, it was not the governments who took food out to the poor, etc it was people who believed in God who were giving of their time and money to help..yep they were stupid, they should just have let these people die as now no one gives them credit for giving so much to the people..
And yes you will come back and tell me that religion has done a lot of damage and you would be right, but I am talking not of religion but of the billions of people who really believe and who have helped others, this is where todays values come from and now people who believe and don''t believe in a God try to follow these values.. Love one another..
We must not put all Christians in the same basket when religious people do wrong just as we must not put all business men in the same basket as some who cheat and lie, and we dont put all sports men in the same basket when some go and get drunk and rape girls.. Christians are just like you and me, trying to do their best to not hurt anyone and sometimes failing just as you and I do..

[keithle1]

Organized religion does so much good in the word. Especially Islam.

There''s...uh...and then there is...er...ah...uh...well you have...uh...hmm...er...don''t forget about uh...don''t forget about uh...

[gaye5]

zertrat, yes there is some Christians who believe in evolution, simply because they dont think for themselves but most bible beliving people dont believe in evolution, it is very hard to believe that first of all there was nothing out there and nothing caused that nothing to explode.. There are many scientists who dont believe it zertrat, but unfortunately the media wont tell the world that it is something that has to be researched out for ourselves, I suppose simply because most of the media in the world is left and are pushing us towards a one world control or one world government.. the left have said openly that that is what they want...

[gaye5]

zertrat, visiting Muslim countries does not show a thing it is what is written in their books that is important so that when the time is right and they are called they are to do their dirty deed just as they have done throughout history.. We have non stop world wide violence what does that say?? I know people who have lived in Muslim countries and or traveled through them.. in one country the Muslim people were lovely then, but now they have become militant.. We have had a Muslim lass staying with us, and she was also lovely, but in her country at this stage they are peaceful, again, I say at this stage.. they are slowly being woken up to the command of the Quran that they are to take the world for allah..
Michael is right, he has not just read one or two books he has read some of the Quran by the looks of it as indeed so have I.. The first part of the Quran is full of love, peace, tolerance etc then when mohammad s numbers become a force, he became a force, raiding village after village as he marched across the land, all you have to do is read Muslim books yourself to see.. or I could post some on here for you...Mohammad even skited that he chased the Jewish people off their lands and took their homes for himself.. and their women..

[michaelt302]

Start calling Islam what it is.
Call it a toxic ideology, a death cult, even your death sentence. In fact, Islam, among other things, is a vicious political movement, which gives itself a mantle of respectability and gets away with its actions only by providing itself with the "cloaking device" of religion. Islam is totalitarianism. It wants to conquer you, and kill you and yours. It wants to destroy everything you value.
If you do not withdraw your sanction of Islam, you will play right into the Islamists'''' hands. This is happening right now at the highest level of government. We watch our highest officials bowing and scraping to their future Muslim killers, while reassuring our people that Islam is peaceful, that Islam is a great religion, that Islam is wonderful, and worst of all, that Islam has been hijacked by some bad guys who twist it to their uses. Don''''t be played like a Wurlitzer. Islamists are selling you sanitized Islam while practicing the real thing. It is terribly important to remember that lying and deceit are among Islam''''s most valued weapons.
Jump over the religion barrier. Keep your own peaceful religion, which teaches that the initiation of force is wrong, but that self-defense is right. Recognize and reject Islam, which has as a central commandment to erase the Infidel -- that''''s you -- from the face of the earth.