Last Sunday, Gillian Gibbons was arrested in her home Khartoum, Sudan. After receiving a complaint from an office assistant at the Unity High School. Ms. Gibbons, a British citizen, was a teacher. The complaint lodged against Ms. Gibbons? Her 7 year old students named a teddy bear Muhammad. A common name among Muslim men, it seems it is an insult to the Muslim religion to name an animal Muhammad. Is a teddy bear an 'animal'? Is the Islamic religion so fragile that a stuffed animal is considered 'an animal'?
She was imprisoned. She faced sentencing of further imprisonment and 40 lashes.
As background, the alleged offense to Islam was part of a class project. The class was studying animals. One of her 7 year old students brought a teddy bear to class and then Ms. Gibbons asked the class to name the teddy bear. Names were suggested, including Muhammad. Muhammad is the name of one of the 7 year old students and he suggested the teddy bear be named for himself. The class vote was 23-3 in favor of the name Muhammad. The children took turns bringing the teddy bear home for weekends. They kept diaries in which they wrote about what they did with the weekend visits. These diaries were collected and the teacher made them into a book with the teddy bear's picture on the front cover. The title of the book: "My Name is Muhammad".
If you've had a child this age in school, you know this is a very common lesson plan to teach journaling.
Sara Khawad, an assistant working at the school, complained to the Ministry of Education. She testified at the trial yesterday. Ms. Gibbons' attorney, Kamal Djizouri, claims Khawad did it out of revenge against the administration. According to the Director of the school's PTA, Khawad argued with the principal before the teddy bear was named.
Ms. Gibbons, a 54 year old mother of two, has been sentenced to 15 days in jail and deportation. Fortunately, the barbaric practice of lashing will not be included in her sentence.
Today in the streets of Khartoum, Muslims protested the sentence. Muslim clerics were allowed to drum up public outrage in the name of 'Western plot' to insult the Prophet Muhammad. The Prosecutors at trial demanded Ms. Gibbons receive a punishment of 40 lashes, six months in prison and a fine.
She was found guilty of "insulting the faith of Muslims".
The protesters attended Friday sermons in the mosques then took to the streets saying,"No tolerance: Execution," and "Kill her, kill her by firing squad." Ah, the Religion of Peace.
Protesters carried clubs, knives and axes. Fortunately no automatic weapons were used as in previous government sponsored demonstrations. This may indicate the rally was not organized by the government.
Ms. Gibbons tearfully explained that she never intended to insult Muslims during her trial.
So, what has the British government done to protect one of its citizens? Prime Minister Brown sent his regrets to family members. Some in London say the British Muslims openly voiced displeasure at the imprisonment. "In the past, people have been a bit upset when different atrocities have happened and there hasn't been much voice in the U.K. Islamic population, whereas with this, they've quickly condemned it."
The Muslim Council of Britain denounced it as "gross overreaction." The Muslim Public Affairs Committee said her prosecution was "abominable and defies common sense." Archbishop of Canterbury said it was "an absurdly disproportionate response to what is at worst a cultural faux pas."
So, instead of taking any clear action, the Brits continued to declare respect for Islam, praise ties with Sudan and proceeded with whatever diplomatic means they were allowed.
Ms. Gibbons is lucky she wasn't placed before that firing range.
The Daily Telegraph suggested that the Foreign Secretary "has tiptoed around the case, avoiding a threat to cut aid and asserting that respect for Islam runs deep in Britain. Given that much of the government's financial support goes to the wretched refugees in Darfur and neighboring Chad, Mr. Miliband's caution is understandable." However, the newspaper suggests the ambassador in Khartoum be recalled and impose sanctions on the Sudanese regime.
Yeah, that'll happen. I hope the teddy bear survives.
5 comments:
Just when you thought Islamist outrage couldn't get any more ridiculous!
Of course, this is ridiculous. But you'd think the teacher would know better, given her surroundings.
This whole story is so absurd, it makes me feel like we're living in the land of make believe.
Hell, half the news makes me feel that way anymore.
Actually it's not just animals it's any graven image... imagine... a teddy bear considered a graven image...
It's very hard for diplomats to get their citizens out of foreign jails... unlike diplomats they have no diplomatic immunity.. and now factor in the whole running scared of Islam mentality.. even less likely to happen.
we are in major trouble if this continues.
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