Sudan President Pardons British Teacher
CBNNews.com
December 3, 2007
CBNNews.com - The British teacher jailed for letting her students name a teddy bear Muhammad was pardoned by Sudan's president Monday. She will be released and will fly back to England later in the day, officials said.
Two Muslim representatives from Britain's House of Lords, Lord Nazir Ahmed and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, met with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir Monday to plead for Gillian Gibbons' pardon.
"The president has told us he has already signed the papers for her pardon," Ahmed said.
Gibbons, 54, had been sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation for the "teddy bear" offense -- a violation of Sudan's Islamic Sharia law. Demonstrators in Sudan called for her to be put to death, but the government showed mercy.
In a written statement released by the presidential palace, Gibbons said she was sorry if she caused any "distress."
"I have a great respect for the Islamic religion and would not knowingly offend anyone," Gibbons said in the statement. "I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends, but I am very sorry that I will be unable to return to Sudan."
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown welcomed the news, saying that "common sense has prevailed."
"She will be released into the care of our embassy in Khartoum after what must have been a difficult ordeal," Brown said in a statement released by his office.
The Muslim Council of Britain also welcomed the news of her pardon.
"Gillian should never have been arrested in the first place, let alone held in jail. She had done nothing wrong," Inayat Bunglawala said.
Sudan's ambassador in London, Khalid al-Mubarak, said he was "overjoyed" by the news.
"She is a teacher who went to teach our children English and she has helped a great deal and I am very grateful," al-Mubarak said. "What has happened was a cultural misunderstanding, a minor one, and I hope she, her family and the British people won't be affected by what has happened."
Demonstrations in Khartoum on Friday, in which some participants called for Gibbons' execution, "were an argument from the fringe," al-Mubarak said.
Source: The Associated Press
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