'Teddy Bear' Teacher Charged in Sudan
CBN News
November 28, 2007
CBNNews.com - A British teacher in Sudan may face six months in jail and 40 lashes for naming a teddy bear "Muhammad."
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Gillian Gibbons was arrested Sunday after the family of one of her students complained about the bear's name.
In a lesson on animals, she asked a student to bring in her teddy bear, said Robert Boulos, a spokesman for Unity High School in Khartoum, where Gibbons taught.
Gibbons said her class arrived at the name "Muhammad" through a "name the bear" contest. Abdullah and Hassan were the other names they chose from.
Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband urgently summoned the Sudanese ambassador to discuss the case, the British government said.
Unity High School, which was founded by Christians in Khartoum. The private school has elementary through high school levels and 90 percent of its students are Muslim, mostly from upper-class Sudanese families. Authorities are charging her with "inciting religious hatred" and insulting Islam.
Sudanese newspapers published a statement Tuesday reportedly from the school, saying the administration "offers an official apology to the students and their families and all Muslims for what came from an individual initiative." It also said Gibbons had been "removed from her work at the school."
Source: The Associated Press
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