Sudan: Teacher Arrested for Naming Bear
By Mohamed Osman
Associated Press Writer
November 26, 2007
CBNNews.com - KHARTOUM, Sudan - A British teacher was arrested in Sudan for allegedly insulting Islam by naming a teddy bear Muhammad, taken as a reference to Islam's prophet and founder, the Sudan Media Center said Monday.
Reuters reports that the teacher faces 40 lashes for the "insult."
The teacher, who wrote the name on the bear, was being interrogated Monday, the semiofficial center said. She was arrested Sunday after the Ministry of Education filed a complaint, acting on behalf of a parent of one of her students.
The British Foreign Office identified her as Gillian Gibbons, 54, and said her 7-year-old students named the bear when she asked them to. It was not clear whether Gibbons intended to name the bear after the prophet; Muhammad is a common name in the Muslim world.
The Sudan Media Center said legal procedures were under way against Gibbons, who taught at the Unity High School in Khartoum, which teaches students aged 4 to 18.
The school could not be reached for comment, and the British Embassy in Khartoum did not return calls.
A Sudanese government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said Gibbons was still being detained Monday pending the completion of the investigation.
Abdul Mageed Khogalli, a member of the government's Commission for Non-Muslims, said he was aware of the case but could not comment.
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
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