Monday, November 26, 2007      Add a Comment

Reposted From: The Telegraph

A British primary school teacher in Sudan is facing 40 lashes and up to six months in prison after allowing her pupils to name a teddy bear after the prophet Muhammad.

Colleagues of Gillian Gibbons, 54, claim she made an "innocent mistake" by allowing the class of seven year-olds to choose the name. But she has been accused of insulting IslamÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s holiest prophet, arrested and imprisoned.

If charged and found guilty of blasphemy she faces punishment under Sharia law.

Her actions have sparked protests in Sudan and have forced the school to close until January for fear of reprisals.

The divorced mother-of-two from Liverpool is being held at a police station in the Sudanese capital city of Khartoum, and there were reports that an angry mob had gathered.

As the Foreign Office tried to resolve the situation, Miss Gibbons was visited by consular staff who described her as well, despite her ordeal.

Miss Gibbons had been working at Unity High School - popular with wealthy Sudanese and expatriates - since August, after leaving her position as deputy headteacher at Dovecot Primary School in Liverpool this summer.

However, trouble flared after she let her class choose a name for the stuffed bear as part of a school project.

She was teaching her Year 2 class about animals and their habitats as part of the schoolÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s British-style national curriculum.

She asked one of the female pupils to bring in a teddy bear and asked the students to name it. "They came up with eight names including Abdullah, Hassan and Mohammed," said the schoolÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s director, Robert Boulos

Twenty of the 23 children opted for Mohammed and the toy was taken home by a different pupil each weekend to record a diary of the bearÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s "activities".

Mr Boulos said the diary entries were written in a book which bore a picture of the bear and the words "My Name is Mohammed".

It is seen as an insult to Islam to attempt to make an image of the Prophet Mohammed, but Mr Boulos said nothing was written on the bear itself.

Several Muslim parents complained to the Ministry of Education and on Sunday, Sudanese police arrested her at her home on the school premises.

Mr Boulos insisted Miss Gibbons had not meant to offend anyone but said the school would remain closed until January for fear of reprisals.

"She has done nothing wrong but now we are very concerned that thereÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s a risk to the school and the students from the men in the street," Mr Boulos said.

The police have confiscated the diary and plan to interview the little girl who owned the bear.

A source close to the school said one teacher was angered by the naming of the toy and complained to the headmistress, who is European. "According to what I was told, she belongs to one of the established conservative families in Khartoum."

But a Muslim teacher at Unity, who also has a child in Miss GibbonsÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢ class, said she had not found the project offensive: "I know Gillian and she would never have meant it as an insult."

The countryÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s state-controlled Sudanese Media Centre said Miss Gibbons was arrested "under article 125 of the criminal law", on suspicion of insulting faith and religion.

Unity, founded in 1902, is an independent school for Christian and Muslim children aged four to 18 and is governed by a board representing major Christian denominations in Sudan.

Miss Gibbons, who separated from her husband Peter in December 2006 after more than 20 years, is one of several Western teachers who work at the school.

The couple have two children Jessica, 27, - also a teacher - and John, 25, and used to live in the Aigburth area of Liverpool.

Former neighbour Peter Sorensen, 64, said: "Everyone is shocked to hear that Gillian has been arrested in Sudan. We can only think that itÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢s all a huge mistake, IÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢m sure she would never have done anything deliberately to insult the Muslim faith.

"We are very worried about the kind of conditions she is subjected to. Being held in police cell in Khartoum must be an horrendous experience."

Mr Sorensen said Miss Gibbons had planned to be in Africa for two years but was hoping to come home for Christmas.

Headteacher of Dovecot Primary School Gillian Jones said: "We are all thinking of her at this difficult time and are absolutely certain that there is no way that she will have done anything to intentionally insult any religion."