News & Politics - Teddy teacher charged with inciting hatred.

welshgirlyUK · 11-28-2007, 11:15 AM

Quote:

British teacher Gillian Gibbons has been charged by Sudanese authorities with insulting religion and inciting hatred, the Foreign Office has confirmed.

Mrs Gibbons allowed her seven-year-old pupils at the Unity School in Khartoum to name their class teddy bear Mohammed.

She was arrested on Sunday after a complaint was made to the Sudanese Ministry of Education.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "I can confirm Gillian Gibbons has been charged under article 125 of the Sudanese Criminal Code.

"The charges are insulting religion and inciting hatred."

Foreign Secretary David Miliband is to summon the Sudanese ambassador "as a matter of urgency" over the decision.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman said: "We are surprised and disappointed by this development and the Foreign Secretary will summon as a matter of urgency the Sudanese ambassador to discuss the matter further."

Mr Brown's spokesman said the purpose of the meeting was "so we can get a clear explanation for the rationale behind the charges and a sense of what the next steps might be.

"We will consider our response in the light of that."

Teddy row teacher charged in Sudan - Yahoo! News UK

This case seems incredibly bizarre. Some British reporters on the morning shows were in Sudan talking with the people and ~~its not in any of the media there and~~ when they were told they said they didn't find it insulting so i'm not sure what the reasoning behind it is.

migamoo · 11-28-2007, 05:43 PM

I'm confused, is the lady teaching in Sudan?

**sunnykerr** · 11-28-2007, 06:30 PM

It does seem like she is.

I've heard, only peripherally though, about this case. It's so bizarre, especially when you consider that a lot of Muslims (if not all, but I don't want to start saying something that I don't actually know for a fact) name their first-born sons Muhammad. I guess they don't have a lot of dogs named Jack and cats named Felix in Sudan.

Mind you, this is the same government that sponsors the Janjaweed's massacre in Darfur. So, maybe we shouldn't be surprised at the overboard-ness of their reactions to some stuff.

elisheva · 11-28-2007, 06:39 PM

I get not wanting to name a children's toy after such an important religious figure...but I don't see at all how you then move to saying that this insults religion or incites hatred! After all, Mohammed is an extremely common name in Muslim societies. It's not like the only connotation is specifically religious.

Plus, you know, there's the small point that arresting a teacher over something like that is just a little extreme...

welshgirlyUK · 11-29-2007, 04:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fieryangel (View Post)

I'm confused, is the lady teaching in Sudan?

Yes.

Quote:

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A British teacher accused of insulting Muslims after her class called a teddy bear Mohammed arrived on Thursday at the Khartoum courthouse where she is expected to face formal charges.

British embassy representatives met Gillian Gibbons, 54, on her arrival from detention in Khartoum North and accompanied her into the courthouse. Court officers prevented reporters from entering the courtroom and said the session would be closed.

Police escorted Gibbons, wearing a dark blue skirt and a black blazer, into the courthouse as a crowd of a few hundred pushed against a police cordon outside and riot police waited in a nearby car.

Police allowed only one member of the defence team inside the small courtroom, with two rows of plastic and metal seats.

Sudanese state media said on Wednesday that Gibbons was being charged with insulting Islam, inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs. If convicted, she could face 40 lashes, a fine, or one year in jail.

The defence has called several eyewitnesses including colleagues from Unity High School in Khartoum and a teaching assistant who was inside the classroom with Gibbons during the naming of the teddy bear, a defence source said.

Fellow teachers said they did not believe Gibbons had intended to insult Muslims and had made an innocent mistake in endorsing a name chosen by the school children.

In London on Wednesday, a Foreign Office spokesman confirmed Gibbons had been charged and officials said Foreign Secretary David Miliband was calling in the Sudanese ambassador.

"We are surprised and disappointed by this development and the foreign secretary will summon as a matter of urgency the Sudanese ambassador to discuss this matter further," Prime Minister Gordon Brown's official spokesman said.

A statement from the Sudanese embassy in London said the case came in response to parents' complaints.

"It is now a police case and the temptation to treat it as a media sensation should be resisted. We certainly do not wish to resort to 'trial by media'.

Lovely Lala · 11-29-2007, 06:30 AM

I heard about this and all I can say poor her, and Im wondering if you can only name your son that but like someone said not your dog or I dont know cat?
I have muslim friends so I can ask I guess

welshgirlyUK · 11-29-2007, 11:42 AM

Breaking news on yahoo UK is that she has been found guilty. Theres no more information just yet because its only just been announced but i'll post more as it comes out. This is purely ridiculous.

sum1 · 11-29-2007, 01:45 PM

The Times quoted some guy saying she should die for this.

TheAngel · 11-29-2007, 02:43 PM

Quote:

British Teacher to Be Deported From Sudan After 15 Days in Jail

By Karl Maier and Kari Lundgren

Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The British teacher convicted by a Sudanese court of insulting Islam and sedition after she allowed pupils to name a teddy bear Muhammad will be deported after serving a 15-day jail sentence, the U.K. said.

Gillian Gibbons, 54, was sentenced today to serve 15 days from the day of her arrest on Nov. 25 and then will be expelled, Omar Daair, a spokesman for the U.K. Embassy in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, said today.

``We are extremely disappointed,'' he said. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband summoned the Sudanese ambassador to London after the verdict was announced, Daair said in a telephone interview.

Gibbons allowed her class of 6- and 7-year-old children to name the toy bear used in a school project in September. Muhammad, the name of Islam's prophet, was the most popular choice. The pupils were studying animals and their habitats. Several parents complained later to the authorities that the project had insulted Islam.

``I am very disappointed she has been found guilty,'' Louise Ellman, the lawmaker who represents Gibbons' home area of Liverpool, in northwestern England, said in an interview today. ``Perhaps there is some relief that the sentence could have been harsher. I hope she will be released as soon as possible.''

Miliband earlier called for the teacher's release, saying the incident was an ``innocent misunderstanding.''

The trial was held in a criminal court in Khartoum today. Gibbons was charged with insulting religion and inciting hatred under Article 125 of Sudan's criminal law.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown took a ``close interest'' in the arrest and trial of Gibbons, and spoke to her family early today, his spokesman, Michael Ellam, told reporters.

Ellam added that the government had full consular access to the teacher, without describing the conditions of her imprisonment.

This fundamentalist Islam is starting to scare me. The violence, anger, and oppression is frightening.

Spooky Spice · 11-30-2007, 09:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheAngel (View Post)

This fundamentalist Islam is starting to scare me. The violence, anger, and oppression is frightening.

Starting? Already there.

Quote:

From MSNBC.com

Sudan protesters seek U.K. teacher's execution
Teacher convicted of insulting Islam for 'Muhammad' teddy bear

KHARTOUM, Sudan - Thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and knives, protested Friday outside the presidential palace in Khartoum, demanding 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 pick-up 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 palace, for about an hour, while hundreds of riot police deployed nearby to keep control, though they did not attempt to disrupt the rally. "Shame, shame on the U.K.," protesters chanted.

They burned pictures of Gibbons and called for her execution, saying, "No tolerance: Execution," and "Kill her, kill her by firing squad."

Clubs, knives and axes

Several hundred protesters, not openly carrying weapons, marched to Unity High School, where Gibbons worked, about 1.2 miles from the square. They stood chanting slogans outside the school, which is closed and under heavy security, then marched toward the nearby British Embassy. They were stopped by security forces two blocks away from the embassy.

The women's prison where Gibbons is being held is far from the site, across the Nile in Khartoum's sister city Oumdurman.

The protest arose despite vows by Sudanese security officials the day before, during Gibbons' trial, that threatened demonstrations after Friday prayers would not take place. Some of the protesters carried green banners with the name of the Society for Support of the Prophet Muhammad, a previously unknown group.

Some of the protesters, 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 protesters in the square dispersed in about an hour.

Hardliners blast teacher

During Friday sermons, the Muslim cleric at Khartoum's main Martyrs Mosque denounced Gibbons, saying she intentionally insulted Islam but he did not call for protests.

"Imprisoning this lady does not satisfy the thirst of Muslims in Sudan. But we welcome imprisonment and expulsion," the cleric, Abdul-Jalil Nazeer al-Karouri, a well-known hardliner, told worshippers.

"This is an arrogant woman who came to our country, cashing her salary in dollars, teaching our children hatred of our Prophet Muhammad," he said.

Hardline clerics who hold considerable influence with Sudan's Islamic government, have sought to whip up public anger over the Gibbons' case, calling her actions part of a Western plot to damage Islam.

The conviction of Gibbons was seen as an attempt by the government to appease hardliners, while trying to avert British anger by giving a relatively light sentence. Gibbons could have received up to 40 lashes, six months in prison and a fine if convicted on the heavier charge of inciting religious hatred.

Britain pursued diplomatic moves to free Gibbons. Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke with a member of her family to convey his regret, his spokeswoman said.

"He set out his concern and the fact that we were doing all we could to secure her release," spokeswoman Emily Hands told reporters.

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, a common name among Muslim men. 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 complained to the Ministry of Education that Gibbons had insulted the prophet by comparing him to an animal or toy.

U.K. Muslims condemn charge

Most Britons expressed shock at the verdict, alongside hope it would not raise tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims in Britain.

"One of the good things is the U.K. Muslims who've condemned the charge as completely out of proportion," said Paul Wishart, 37, a student in London.

Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, accused the Sudanese authorities of "gross overreaction."

"This case should have required only simple common sense to resolve. It is unfortunate that the Sudanese authorities were found wanting in this most basic of qualities," he said.

The Muslim Public Affairs Committee, a political advocacy group, said the prosecution was "abominable and defies common sense."

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, said Gibbons' prosecution and conviction was "an absurdly disproportionate response to what is at worst a cultural faux pas."

Foreign Secretary David Miliband summoned the Sudanese ambassador late Thursday to express Britain's disappointment with the verdict. The Foreign Office said Britain would continue diplomatic efforts to achieve "a swift resolution" to the crisis.

Britain's response -- applying diplomatic pressure while extolling ties with Sudan and affirming respect for Islam -- had produced mixed results, British commentators concluded.

In an editorial, The Daily Telegraph said Miliband "has tiptoed around the case, avoiding a threat to cut aid and asserting that respect for Islam runs deep in Britain. Given that much of the government's financial support goes to the wretched refugees in Darfur and neighboring Chad, Mr. Miliband's caution is understandable."

Now, however, the newspaper said, Britain should recall its ambassador in Khartoum and impose sanctions on the Sudanese regime.

Just when you think it couldn't get any scarier...

elisheva · 11-30-2007, 02:05 PM

TheAngel and Spooky Spice, please add direct links to the articles. Thank you.

TheAngel · 11-30-2007, 03:20 PM

Sorry about that. Here you go. Bloomberg.com " British Teacher to Be Deported From Sudan After 15 Days in Jail"

Spooky Spice · 11-30-2007, 03:30 PM

D'oh!

Sudan protesters seek Briton's execution - Africa - MSNBC.com

ursa major · 11-30-2007, 05:00 PM

It's unfortunate what's happening to this lady, but I have to wonder why she wouldn't know that this would not go over well with the Muslims in Sudan. Just based on the many things I've seen and heard, it seems like some Muslims (particularly in Africa & the Middle East) are very sensitive about their religion. Unless you are seriously practicing Islam they don't want you naming yourself, your children, your cat (even if you are practicing the faith) and especially not a stuffed toy, Muhummad. It's extremely disrespectful in their eyes.

Sudan is not America or England, and even here there are people who would be and are very offended when they meet people whose names are spelled J-e-s-u-s (even though most of the time it's pronounced "Hey Sue") or worst if someone name their teddy bear or pet rabbit Jesus Christ. Of course they probably wouldn't respond the way the Sudanese are responding, but the difference is religion is very much ingrained into their government and society, where as in America it is not.

ursa major · 11-30-2007, 05:11 PM

Oops, dupe post


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