Britain 'extremely disappointed' with verdict in Sudan teddy row

LONDON: Britain said it was 'extremely disappointed' with the jailing of the teacher at the centre of the Mohammed teddy case in Sudan Thursday, insisting the row was caused by an 'innocent misunderstanding'.   

Foreign Secretary David Miliband summoned Sudan's ambassador to London for talks on the sentence, their second meeting Thursday, shortly after a Khartoum court jailed Gillian Gibbons for 15 days and ordered her deportation for allowing a class of schoolchildren to name their teddy bear Mohammed.   

"We are extremely disappointed that the charges against Gillian Gibbons were not dismissed," Miliband said in a statement.   

"As I said this morning, our clear view is that this is an innocent misunderstanding by a dedicated teacher. Our priority now is to ensure Ms Gibbons' welfare and we will continue to provide consular assistance to her.   

"I have called in the Sudanese ambassador, Omer Siddig, this evening to explain the decision and discuss next steps."   
The foreign ministry said later that during the 45-minute meeting between Miliband and Siddig, the foreign secretary "expressed in the strongest terms our concern at the continued detention of Gillian Gibbons".   

Miliband also spoke with Sudan's acting foreign minister for 15 minutes following his meeting with Siddig.   

The Foreign Office said there will be further contacts between the two countries overnight and on Friday "in the search for a swift resolution of this issue."   

Gibbons, a 54-year-old mother of two, was arrested earlier this week after letting her pupils call a teddy bear "Mohammed" as part of a class project.   

Mohammed is a popular name in Sudan but Islam forbids any physical representation of the Prophet Mohammed.   

Islamic Sharia law applies in Khartoum, where alcohol is banned and women are expected to dress conservatively.   

Gibbons appeared in court a day later, charged with insulting Islam and inciting religious hatred in a case that has pitted Sudan against its former colonial ruler, threatening to spark a diplomatic conflict.   

The maximum sentence for the charges brought aganst her was six months in jail, 40 lashes and a fine.   

Her sentence will run from her arrest on Sunday, her lawyer said, making no mention of an appeal.   

Gibbons was whisked out of the courtroom as soon as the verdict was read out but had appeared well earlier in the hearing, wearing dark conservative clothes, according to witnesses.   

Before her sentence was announced, a Sudanese embassy spokesman said it was "unlikely" she would be convicted, and added that it was possible President Omar al-Bashir could intervene.   

The case has triggered growing expressions of outrage in Britain, and concern from British Muslim groups.   

"This matter is not worthy of arrest or detention and her continued detention will not help repair the misconceptions about Islam," said the London-based Ramadhan Foundation.   

Inayat Bunglawala, spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, an umbrella group of the country's Muslim organisations, said Gibbons "should never have been arrested in the first place, let alone convicted of any crime."    

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the world's most senior Anglican, chimed in, describing the Sudanese decision as a "primitivist and crude application of the law."   

"I can't see any justification for this at all," Dr Rowan Williams told BBC television on Thursday evening.    

"I think this is an absurdly disproportionate response to what is at best a minor cultural faux pas."   

The teddy bear case comes against a background of diplomatic tension between Sudan and the West over the crisis in Darfur -- but Miliband stressed before the conviction was announced that the affair should not be seen as part of a "political dispute."   

"This was a person making a contribution to Sudanese society," he said.   

The United States backed its staunch ally and branded the decision outrageous but said it would leave the matter up to Britain.