Teddy Bear Teacher Pardoned
12.03.07
London (dpa) - The British teacher jailed in Sudan for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Mohammed has been given a presidential pardon, reports said Monday.
A presidential adviser was quoted as saying the Briton would be freed later in the day, the British Press Association (PA) said.
The news came as two British Muslim politicians, Baroness Warsi and Lord Ahmed, met with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to plead for her release.
Gibbons, 54 and from Liverpool, was given a 15-day jail sentence last week for allegedly insulting Islam after she had allowed her primary school pupils to name the bear Mohammed.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Monday hailed the release of the teacher as a victory for “common sense.”
In a statement issued in London, which confirmed the release of the 54-year-old, Brown said he was “delighted and relieved to hear the news that Gillian Gibbons is to be freed.”
“Common sense has prevailed. She will be released into the care of our embassy in Khartoum after what must have been a difficult ordeal.”
I’m guessing the students really hated her. Which is why they let her pull of such offensive shinanigans, like naming a bear mohammed. They wanted her dead! Those sneaky kids.
She’s been pardoned? Expect riots.
# December 3rd, 2007 at 3:58 pmI wanna know what they named the class gerbil
thinkin maybe she will go back for another 15 days for that.
# December 4th, 2007 at 12:03 amCommon sense did NOT prevail. Politics and bigotry prevailed.
# December 8th, 2007 at 7:07 pmIf common sense had prevailed she would never have been charged, much less convicted, and thus never needed a pardon!!!