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Teacher Jailed Over Toy Name

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By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU, The Associated Press

Published: November 30, 2007

KHARTOUM, Sudan - A Sudanese court on Thursday convicted a British teacher of insulting Islam for letting her students name a teddy bear Muhammad and sentenced her to 15 days in prison, avoiding a heavier punishment of 40 lashes. The teacher wept in court, insisting she never meant to offend.

The sentence and seven-hour trial 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.

Officials were trying to tamp down public anger in the face of hard-line calls for protests after Muslim prayers today.

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

"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.

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.

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