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British Seek Pardon for Teacher in Sudan | December 02, 2007

Please pray for the two Muslim, British Parliamentarians who are in Sudan to plead the case of school teacher, Gillian Gibbons. Additionally we of IRFWP call upon Muslims, especially world Muslim leaders to pressure Sudan president al Bashir to quickly resolve this matter, and take the name of Islam away from these unthinkable negatives.

New York Times

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) -- British officials pushed Sunday for a pardon from Sudan's president for a teacher imprisoned for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad.

Two Muslim members of British parliament, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi and Lord Nazir Ahmed, were meeting with Sudanese officials in the capital Khartoum for a second day to try to secure the early release of British teacher Gillian Gibbons.

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) -- British officials pushed Sunday for a pardon from Sudan's president for a teacher imprisoned for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad.

Two Muslim members of British parliament, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi and Lord Nazir Ahmed, were meeting with Sudanese officials in the capital Khartoum for a second day to try to secure the early release of British teacher Gillian Gibbons.

''We are working closely with Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi because we think their initiative has the best chance of success,'' said embassy spokesman Omar Daair. ''We are still pressing very hard for a meeting with the president.''

The embassy said it was talking directly to the Sudanese government at the same time.

The British Foreign Office said its ambassador to Sudan, Rosalind Marsden, met with Gibbons Sunday for an hour. She ''is being treated well and is in a comfortable and secure environment,'' the Foreign Office spokesman said on condition of anonymity in keeping with government policy.

''Government ministers and officials in London and Sudan are continuing to do everything they can to try to resolve this consular issue as quickly as possible through intense activity on a wide range of channels,'' the spokesman added.

Gibbons was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation for insulting Islam because she allowed her students to give a teddy bear the same name as Islam's revered prophet -- a violation under Sudan's Islamic Sharia law.

Concern for the teacher's safety grew Friday after thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and swords and beating drums, burned pictures of her and demanded her execution at a rally in Khartoum.

She was moved from the Omdurman women's prison to a secret location on Friday after the demonstrations.

The visiting British parliamentarians were hoping to meet President Omar al-Bashir who alone has the power to pardon Gibbons.

But officials in al-Bashir's office said no meeting with the British visitors was currently on the schedule.

''We're having lots and lots of meetings, we're working hard,'' Ahmed told reporters. He declined to say whether they had yet secured an appointment with al-Bashir.

He added that they met again with Gibbons and she was doing well.

Warsi said late Sunday she could not comment on the state of the negotiations.

''We are still waiting for some answers,'' she said.

Gibbons' chief lawyer, Kamal al-Gizouli, was optimistic on the chances of the British delegation to secure the teacher's release, in part because the whole affair has become an international embarrassment to the government.

''They want to get rid of the problem and the visit of the British lords would be a good opportunity,'' he said. ''This case is a headache for the government. I would not be surprised if Gibbons was released today or tomorrow.''

No government official, however, has made any kind of hint about an early release and members of the president's entourage were not available for comment on Sunday.

Gibbons 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 Sunday counts 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, and Muhammad is one of the most common names for men in the Arab world. Muslim scholars generally agree that intent is a key factor in determining if someone has violated Islamic rules against insulting the prophet.

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.

The uproar comes as the U.N. is accusing Sudan of dragging its feet on the deployment of peacekeepers in the western Sudanese Darfur region.

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Associated Press Writers Mohamed Osman contributed to this report from Khartoum and Jill Lawless from London.
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