UK teacher goes to court in Sudan

KHARTOUM – Riot police surrounded the building as a Sudanese court began proceedings yesterday in the case of a British teacher charged with inciting religious hatred – a crime punishable by up to 40 lashes – over letting her pupils name a teddy bear Muhammad.

Gillian Gibbons, in a dark jacket and blue skirt, was not handcuffed but looked tired as she walked into the courtroom in Khartoum, according to reporters inside before media were ordered out of the chamber. Outside, there was confusion as authorities barred British diplomats and Gibbons’ employer from entering the building.Sudan’s prosecutor-general Salah Eddin Abu Zaid said Gibbons, who could face also face six months in jail and a fine if convicted, will receive a ‘swift and fair trial’.The case sparked tensions between Sudan and Britian, the country’s former colonial ruler.British Foreign Secretary David Miliband was meeting yesterday with Sudan’s ambassador to inquire about the case.”There is an innocent misunderstanding at the heart of this, not a criminal offence,” Miliband told reporters.British diplomats “will do everything to avoid” any of the possible sentences that could be imposed on Gibbons, he said.Officials at the Unity High School, a private school where Gibbons teaches, say the teddy bear was part of a class project to teach her 7-year-old pupils about animals.She asked the students to name the bear and they chose the name Muhammad, a common name among Muslim men.Each child was allowed to take the bear home on weekends and write a diary about what they did with it.The diary entries were collected in a book with the bear’s picture on the cover, labelled, “My Name is Muhammad,” according to the school director, Robert Boulos.But some parents complained, accusing Gibbons of insulting the Prophet Muhammad, the most revered figure in Islam, by applying his name to a toy animal, the officials say.Gibbons, 54, was arrested Sunday.The school, which has about 750 students from elementary through high school, most from affluent Sudanese Muslim families, has been closed since.Nampa-APOutside, there was confusion as authorities barred British diplomats and Gibbons’ employer from entering the building.Sudan’s prosecutor-general Salah Eddin Abu Zaid said Gibbons, who could face also face six months in jail and a fine if convicted, will receive a ‘swift and fair trial’.The case sparked tensions between Sudan and Britian, the country’s former colonial ruler.British Foreign Secretary David Miliband was meeting yesterday with Sudan’s ambassador to inquire about the case.”There is an innocent misunderstanding at the heart of this, not a criminal offence,” Miliband told reporters.British diplomats “will do everything to avoid” any of the possible sentences that could be imposed on Gibbons, he said.Officials at the Unity High School, a private school where Gibbons teaches, say the teddy bear was part of a class project to teach her 7-year-old pupils about animals.She asked the students to name the bear and they chose the name Muhammad, a common name among Muslim men.Each child was allowed to take the bear home on weekends and write a diary about what they did with it.The diary entries were collected in a book with the bear’s picture on the cover, labelled, “My Name is Muhammad,” according to the school director, Robert Boulos.But some parents complained, accusing Gibbons of insulting the Prophet Muhammad, the most revered figure in Islam, by applying his name to a toy animal, the officials say.Gibbons, 54, was arrested Sunday.The school, which has about 750 students from elementary through high school, most from affluent Sudanese Muslim families, has been closed since.Nampa-AP