i dont even need to comment

KHARTOUM, Sudan (Nov. 29) - A British teacher in Sudan was convicted Thursday of the less-serious charge of insulting Islam for letting her pupils name a teddy bear "Muhammad," and was sentenced to 15 days in prison and deportation to Britain, one of her lawyers said. Gillian Gibbons could have received 40 lashes and six months in prison in the case if found guilty of the more serious charge of inciting religious hatred and given the maximum penalty.

A court in Sudan on Thursday convicted British elementary school teacher Gillian Gibbons, here in an undated photo, of "insulting the faith of Muslims" for letting her pupils name a teddy bear Muhammad.

In London, the Foreign Office said it was "extremely disappointed with the sentence," adding that Foreign Secretary David Miliband summoned the Sudanese ambassador to explain the verdict.

Gibbons, 54, was arrested Sunday after complaints to the Education Ministry that she had insulted Prophet Muhammad, the most revered figure in Islam, by applying his name to a teddy bear. She was found guilty of "insulting the faith of Muslims in Sudan" under Article 125 of the Sudanese criminal code, a less-serious charge than the original count of inciting religious hatred, said Ali Mohammed Ajab, a member of her defense team. The charge later was confirmed by a judge who was leaving the closed court session.

"I feel this is very serious and very unfair," Ajab told The Associated Press outside court. Ajab, who also works for the Khartoum Center for Human Rights, said the issue was raised by "hard-liners who are always trying to make some noise," in an apparent reference to religious conservatives. Ajab said his center would appeal the verdict.

Gibbons' employer, Robert Boulos of the Unity High School, called it "a very fair verdict.""She could have had six months and lashes and a fine, and she only got 15 days and deportation," Boulos said.

He noted that she would only spend 10 days in prison, having already served five.

Gibbons is expected to serve her sentence in the Omdurman women's prison near Khartoum.

Religious conservatives in Sudan were outraged by the naming of the teddy bear, and defense lawyers reported receiving death threats. "I am threatened, that's why I'm carrying a gun in court," defense lawyer Abdel Khalig Abdallah said, opening his coat to reveal a revolver during a break in the trial.

crazy like a muslim

Teacher Arrested for Naming Teddy 'Mohammed'

Posted Nov 27th 2007 8:27AM by Ada CalhounFiled under: Islam, Children, Controversy
A British teacher at a high school in Sudan, Gillian Gibbons, 54, was arrested on blasphemy charges for allowing her six- and seven-year-old students to name a class teddy bear "Mohammed," says the Telegraph. She was interrogated for five hours, according to the Daily Mail, and the teacher now may face forty lashes and six months in prison. Protests against Ms. Gibbons, a divorced mother of two, have broken out all over Sudan and the school has been closed through January to prevent retaliation.

dont they name their children mohammed? this is one of the more ridiculous religions!

the christian response: the first blog called for a christian jihad to bomb the muslims off the face of the earth. the next was a guy who said he wanted a tattoo that said "islam is for fags!"... which of us is the more enlightened culture?