British Teddy Teacher Gets 15 Days in Jail for 'Insulting Islam'
- added November 29, 2007
- 7 responses
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- richjm
- added this
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- related topics
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- News and Politics (45842)
- News (28452)
- Britain (982)
- Islam (623)
- Jail (199)
- Sudan (147)
- Teacher (48)
- Gillian Gibbons (8)
The Foreign Office said it was extremely disappointed by the verdict. Her lawyer says she will now appeal.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband had met the Sudanese ambassador to discuss the case, stressing it was an "innocent misunderstanding" and the prime minister, Sudanese embassy officials in London and UK Muslim organisations had all expressed the hope that Mrs Gibbons would be released.
With what seems like breath-taking audacity, the school's director Robert Boulos told the AP news agency: "It's a very fair verdict, she could have had six months and lashes and a fine, and she only got 15 days and deportation."
Since when did jailing a woman for an innocent mistake become fair? And since when did letting some school children name a teddy bear constitute inciting hatred?
Leave a comment below and let us know what you think about this.
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This is political correctness gone insane, should be political wrongness!
Click the link to see what the ludicrous punishments she could have been facing were...
I can't believe this...anyone else think this one of the craziest things of late?
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When I first read about this at Time.com, the article reinforced the fact that Ms Gibbons really had a lot of support from parents and fellow teachers, all of whom had eagerly rallied to her defense. In the article, someone was quoted as saying that many of Ms Gibbons' colleagues suspected that another teacher had phoned the police simply to rabblerouse. I bring this all up because it underscores how completely abnormal this verdict is.
Anyway, I'm linking to an article about the rise in popularity of the name Mohammed in Britain. And if I'm not mistaken, Mohammed is also the most popular name in the world. In fact, the criminalized teddy bear -- around whom all circumstances pivot -- was named, not for the prophet, but for the most popular boy in Ms Gibbons' class. With so many people named Mohammed in the world, it is perfectly beyond me how anyone could be convicted of blasphemy.
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Check the webcam link for a response from today's Metro that truly cements Gillian Gibbons' case as ridiculous...
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EXACTLY!
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I was interested to see what the Sudanese media were making of it but it's quite hard to find anything that deviates away from reporting the facts.
What made for interesting reading were the comments on a story about the arrest posted on the Sudan Tribune's site. The majority of them speak in eloquent support of Mrs Gibbons.
There's an interesting Facebook group set up by Sudanese students who support her here:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6032033388 -
Sudanese bloggers have largely condemned Sudan for arresting Gibbons.
"All the comments, most of them in English, defended the British teacher and many of them called for her release. Some called the whole issue "pathetic" and termed Ms Gibson's act "an honest and innocent mistake".
Take a look at this BBC article for some excerpts. -
she is a teacher, she should have known better.......
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- TongvaWarrior
- 1 year ago
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