Infidel Insults Islam, Gets Arrested

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We can expect more and more of this as the ilsamist keep expanding their territory right?

Oh, no, I forgot. We are the one's that are causing this stuff.
 
She didn't name the bear after the fricken prophet, she named it after a CHILD in her class!!

This is the reason why all this fearmongers and wassaling over stupid fucking idiotic things like this cause more and more bad reactions all over the place. A few people are pissed, some bitch sooked and told on this teacher, and it gets reported like the whole of Sudan are brandishing weapons and ready to kill her. The fact of the matter is, most people didn't care, it WASNT a big deal, and just some stupid wank official decided to make a big fricken thing about it.
 
yolland Quote: New York Times said:


Yolland, thanks for bringing our attention to this part of the article. I was really ticked when reading the paper today and seeing how out of hand this situation has become. Your quote seems to cut to the heart of the situation, which is that this is the result of a totalitarian government doing everything it can to incite public anger in order to divert attention from the terrible things it is doing in Darfur, which have been attracting more and more criticism and action from the international community.

i hope the teacher remains safe and that the focus is not switched from stopping the genocide in Darfur.
 
Perhaps the best resolution there could have been. Overall, good news, I suppose.


Dec 3, 12:55 PM (ET)

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) - A British teacher jailed for insulting Islam after she allowed her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad flew home Monday after Sudan's president pardoned her, a British embassy spokesman said.

Gillian Gibbons' conviction under Sudan's Islamic Sharia law shocked Britons and many Muslims worldwide. Hard-line Muslim clerics in Sudan accused her of intentionally seeking to insult Islam's Prophet Muhammad, and the case angered some Sudanese, sparking a protest where demonstrators called for her execution.

Her release came after two British Muslim politicians from the House of Lords met with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir early Monday to plead for her freedom.

Gibbons also sent a written statement to al-Bashir that she did not intend to offend anyone and had great respect for Islam.

Hours after al-Bashir's pardon, Gibbons left the country on a flight home. "I can confirm she has left Sudan," spokesman Omar Daair told The Associated Press. She was believed to be on an Emirates flight with a stopover in Dubai before heading to London early Tuesday.

Gibbons, 54, was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation for insulting Islam because she allowed her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad - a common name among Muslim men - in a class project on animals. The trial was sparked when a school secretary complained to the Education Ministry that Gibbons aimed to insult the Prophet Muhammad. Her time in jail since her arrest Nov. 25 counted toward the sentence.

Lord Nazir Ahmed, who met with al-Bashir earlier Monday along with Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, said the case was an "unfortunate misunderstanding" and stressed that Britain respected Islam.

He hoped "the relations between our two countries will not be damaged by this incident," Ahmed told reporters at the presidential palace after Monday's meeting.

Ghazi Saladdin, a senior presidential adviser, said al-Bashir insisted that Gibbons had a "fair trial," but he agreed to pardon her because of the efforts by the British Muslim delegation.

"We are very relieved and happy that she has been pardoned," said Robert Boulos, director of Khartoum's Unity High School, where Gibbons worked.

In the written statement released by Sudanese presidential palace and read by Warsi to reporters, 54-year-old 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, who was sentenced Thursday, 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," the statement read.

The teacher escaped harsher punishment that could have included up to 40 lashes, six months in prison and a fine. Her time in jail since her arrest last Sunday counted toward the sentence.

During her trial, the weeping teacher said she had intended no harm. Her students, overwhelmingly Muslim, chose the name for the bear. Muslim scholars generally agree that intent is a key factor in determining if someone has violated Islamic rules against insulting the prophet.

The conviction shocked many Britons, but the case was caught up in the ideology that al-Bashir's Islamic regime has long instilled in Sudan, a mix of anti-colonialism, religious fundamentalism and a sense that the West is besieging Islam.

In Britain, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was delighted by news.

"Common sense has prevailed," Brown said in a statement released by his office.

The case also sparked criticism from many Muslims in the West who said she should have never been arrested. On Monday, Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, welcomed the pardon.

"It will be wonderful to see her back in the U.K. I am sure she will be welcomed by both Muslims and non-Muslims after her quite terrible ordeal at the hands of the Sudanese authorities," Bunglawala said.

A small group of about 40 protesters gathered briefly Monday in front of the British embassy in Khartoum and handed over a petition, spokesman Daair said, without describing the petition. But several cars of riot police arrived and dispersed the crowd.

On Friday during a rally in Khartoum, thousands of protesters, many armed with clubs and swords and beating drums, burned pictures of her and demanded her execution.

After the rally, there were fears for Gibbons' safety and she was moved from the Omdurman women's prison to a secret location, her lawyer has said.

There was no overt sign that the government organized the protest, but such a rally could not have taken place without at least official assent.

Sudan's ambassador in London, Khalid al-Mubarak, insisted Monday that the demonstrations "were an argument from the fringe."
 
KHARTOUM, Sudan (CNN) -- In an effort to shut down Khartoum's Unity High School, a disgruntled former employee alerted Sudanese officials that a British teacher had allowed her class to name a teddy bear "Mohammed," a British source and Sudanese presidential palace source told Time magazine's Sam Dealey.

Gillian Gibbons, 54, was convicted last week of insulting religion and sentenced to 15 days in jail and deportation. Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir pardoned her from her prison sentence on Monday and she later left on a flight for England.

The two sources said Sarah Khawad was fired as the school's secretary in November after an employment spat and threatened to shut down the school.

The sources said Khawad did not appear to have a vendetta against Gibbons, but hoped that by bringing the teddy bear incident to the education minister's attention, he would close down the school for anti-Islamic teachings.

The private school was shut down after the controversy came to light last week. It is unclear if it will reopen.

Although there is no ban in the Quran on images of Allah or the Prophet Mohammed, Islam's founder, some Muslims consider likenesses highly offensive.

The sources said they have confirmed the account with Gibbons.

Defense attorneys confirmed that it was Khawad who launched the initial complaint against Gibbons, not a parent as originally thought. Khawad also testified at Gibbons' trial.

Before approaching Sudan's education minister, the two sources said Khawad tried to enlist two parents, who were also teachers at the school, to join in her protest against the teddy bear's name, but they declined.
 
dazzlingamy said:
She didn't name the bear after the fricken prophet, she named it after a CHILD in her class!!

Outrageous and unbelieveable...it sounds like it was a tribute, more than anything. If boxers and other athletes can take on Islamic names in their worlds, surely a toy bear in a kid's class cannot be harmful in any conceivable way.
 
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