Teacher Gillian Gibbons, who was jailed in Sudan for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Mohammad, has been pardoned by the country’s president.
She was sentenced last Thursday to 15 days in jail for insulting Islam.
Gibbons, 54, had left her home town of Liverpool in July and had only been in Sudan for four months. The case rapidly escalated into a diplomatic incident and Muslim hardliners in Sudan protested after Friday prayers. The Muslim Council of Britain has said it is “appalled.”
But should Gibbons have perhaps been more aware of the possible consequences of so naming a toy animal? She may not have been in the country long but she must have known of the furore in 2006 when a Danish newspaper published cartoons of Mohammad and of the sensibilities of producing any image of the Prophet.
Is this just a case of an innocent abroad or a serious failure to take into account the possible dangers to Westerners of living and working in strict Muslim countries?
Tell us your view.
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I think she was treated terribly.
- Posted by martinSince Davis posted twice, I decided I better too to counteract his/her incendiary invective. The issue is obviously not “SHARIA LAW” (emphasis original). You seem to be unaware of what the situation is, the students, NOT, the teacher, named the teddy bear. Are you aware of that? The teacher is a scapegoat. The name, Mohammad/Muhammad, is a common one (kind of like Jesus in Latin countries). It was a rush to judgment, one contradicted by the students, that the teddy bear was named after the prophet. I think you are the one with you head in the crackerjack box, making rash accusations against the teacher without paying attention to the facts.
- Posted by MatthewThis was a convenient opportunity for the government (note that much of the virulent protest was incited by the Sudanese government) to try and deflect international attention from their genocide in Darfur. And you were dupe enough to join them in that. Maybe the label fascist into not completely accurate, but I think the situation in Darfur is worthy of comparison, don’t you? Do you really want to defend a government that, if not actively involved, is complicit involved in massacring citizens? You call the lady a fool. Come on now, you who spout Sharia law, what law did she break? Aren’t you the fool for condemning her when she didn’t break any law. Remember now, you’re following the “intolerant,” “extreme,” “totalitarian” government in ASSUMING the teddy bear was named after the prophet and in blaming the teacher for what the class decided.
I agree with Laon and Rita. Addison is only showing that he is the naive one, or that he is incredibly stupid, unable to fully grasp the political situation, or is deliberately being provocative and insensitive. Whatever the case maybe, it is not fit to be called journalism.
- Posted by MatthewThis was an unfortunate mistake. The reaction of the Sudanese is obviously over the top. There have been Muslims from various places in the world condemning the reaction.
Many on this blog have responded with the same type of intolerance as the people calling for this teacher’s death. To characterize all Muslim people the same way is equivalent to grouping all Christians with the isolationist groups in the hills of Idaho that call themselves Christian. Each person should be judged on their own actions, not on the actions of others that claim the same religion.
- Posted by DanielNaive? I don’t think so. We all know Sudan and Sharia Law-what happens to those who don’t abide by it. I don’t think there’s free speech or freedom of expression in most predominantly muslim countries look at journalists in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and so forth. There seems to be a stiffling of the media and people in general if that’s what i can call it.
- Posted by Diana NgilaFurther more, she’s a teacher right? Couldnt she have done more research before going there? I think there’s a high possibility that she did. And to name a teddy bear Muhammad? What the hell was she thinking? And like Dave says, she is definately lucky to leave that country in one piece. She should be thanking God, her lucky stars or whatever she subscribes to for that!
To all observers, the REAL mockery and insult to Islam is obvious: these cruel and bizarre actions on the part of the Islamists themselves. Not being a Muslem, I have to ask then, where are the so-called moderate Islamists to rise up and rebuke the nut-heads? The silence of these hoped-for moderates increases my level of concern. Should the whole group be dismissed as utterly irrational and/or in utter fear of themselves?
- Posted by Tim Landwermeyer