for giving a teddy bear the "wrong" name?


if this progresses any further...hopefully the UK bombs that backwards country further back into the stone ages




LONDON, England (CNN) -- UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Tuesday that officials were working to secure the early release of a British teacher who faces being whipped in Sudan after she allowed her class to name a teddy bear "Mohammed."
An undated amateur photo of Gillian Gibbons.





Gillian Gibbons, 54, has been accused of blasphemy and is being held by police in the capital Khartoum, Kirsty Saunders, British Foreign Office spokeswoman told CNN.
Police arrested the school teacher after she asked her class of seven-year-olds to come up with a name for the toy as part of a school project, according to widespread media reports.
Parents of students at the Unity High School in Khartoum informed the authorities and Gibbons was taken into custody Sunday, Saunders told CNN.
So far Gibbons has yet to be charged with any offense, however, under Sudanese law, insulting Islam is punishable with 40 lashes, a jail term of up to six months or a fine, she said.
However, a Sudanese official told CNN that if police decided that Gibbons had acted in good faith, she would most likely be spared punishment.
"If the intentions are good, definitely she will be absolved and will be cautioned not to repeat this thing again," Mutrif Siddig, Sudan's under secretary for foreign affairs, said.
Saunders said that under Sudan's laws a person can be held for no more than 24 hours without charge.
Asked if British authorities were concerned that Gibbons had been held for longer than that time, she said "we are happy that all the correct procedures are being followed."
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Tuesday he was "very sorry" about Gibbons' arrest and that the British embassy in Khartoum was "giving all appropriate consular assistance to her."
Don't Miss

• TIME.com: The blasphemous teddy bear

He said all efforts were being taken to ensure her early release and that government officials were in touch with the teacher's family in the northern British city of Liverpool.
A representative for her two grown up children -- her daughter Jessica and son John -- told CNN they wished to be left alone until their mother was released.
Gibbons had been working at the school -- popular with wealthy Sudanese and expatriates -- since August, after leaving her position as deputy headteacher at a primary school in Liverpool this summer.
On her entry on the social networking Web site MySpace, Gibbons wrote: "I am a teacher in a school in Khartoum, in Sudan. I like to make the most out of life."
According to the entry, she said her passion was travel and she was hoping to make the most of her time in Sudan by visiting nearby countries.
According to a report in The Times newspaper, Gibbons had asked the children to pick their favorite name for the new class mascot, which she was using to aid lessons about animals and their habitats.
A member of the Sudanese government told CNN Muslim parents at the school informed the authorities after considering that her actions were offensive to their faith.
Mutrif Siddig, Sudan's under secretary for foreign affairs, said: "To give the name of Mohammed to this teddy bear, it was considered as insult by some parents. And this school is mixed, it is not all Christian students."
Gibbons was recruited to work in Sudan by QTS Worldwide, an education consultancy based in the northern county of West Yorkshire.
Eric Liddell, who runs QTS, refused to comment on the incident but said that he had spoken to members of the Unity High School staff, who were hopeful that the British teacher would be released.





Separately, CNN contacted a member of staff, who confirmed the school had been shut down temporarily as a result of the incident involving Gibbons. He refused to give his name and said no other members of staff were available.
He said the school may open again soon, possibly as early as tomorrow. E-mail to a friend

So it is fine and dandy to name one's son, Mohammed but not a teddy bear.

When in the name of Allah/G-d/Heaven and all that is sacred do these do-gooders feel compelled to go to these places?

Prolly something to do with the bear being unclean. A cartoonist in Bangladesh was in deep doody because his cartoon featured a kid holding a cat he called Mohammed (it was actually funny if you can track it down).

You can't tarnish a whole religion based on a dumb thing some extremist fundamentalists do - it'd be like blaming all of Christianity for those anti-gay protesters disrupting military funerals.

Note to self leave teddy bears at home when traveling to Africa (mine are all aptly named Mohammed, Jesus and Moses so not to offend).

Not too surprising (alarming, ridiculous yes) with a screwed up country with mass genocide (Darfur) which is a horrible conflict primarily between African Muslims and Arabic Muslims.

My opinion is that the Muslim religion is experiencing what Christianity experienced during the European Wars over Religion around 1560-1715. Death and destruction in gods name.

time for the UK to bomb Sudan






KHARTOUM, Sudan (CNN) -- Hundreds of protesters brandishing swords and sticks gathered outside Khartoum's presidential palace Friday to vent their anger against a British teacher jailed for allowing children to name a teddy bear "Mohammed."
An undated amateur photo of Gillian Gibbons, who has been found guilty of insulting religion.





About 600 Islamic demonstrators piled out of mosques, chanting: "By soul, by blood, I will fight for the Prophet Mohammad." Some of the protestors demanded the teacher's execution, according to the Associated Press.
The decision by a Sudanese court to jail Gillian Gibbons late Thursday was widely criticized outside of Sudan as too harsh, with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband saying he was "extremely disappointed" the charges were not dismissed.
In leaflets distributed earlier this week by Muslim groups and seen by CNN, the protesters promised a "popular release of anger" at demonstrations called for Friday.
The leaflets condemned Gibbons as an "infidel" and accused her of "the pollution of children's mentality" by her actions.
Sudanese media was reporting that the protests would take place outside the Unity High School where Gibbons worked as a teacher following Friday prayers. However, CNN was unable to confirm this.
Don't Miss

• Teacher charged in teddy bear case
• Bid to stop whipping
• TIME.com: The blasphemous teddy bear
• Web site: Unity High School

The teacher was convicted of insulting religion but cleared of two other charges of inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs, Ali Ajeb, her lawyer said. Watch latest developments in the case
Ajeb said they were planning to appeal the sentence, which runs from the date she was first detained, November 25.
Gibbons, 54, is being held in a woman's prison in the Omdurman district of Khartoum and she will be deported at the end of her prison term, British consular officials in the city told CNN.
Embassy staff said they were giving the teacher, from the northern British city of Liverpool, full consular assistance. Watch a report on reactions to the verdict »
Omer Mohammed Ahmed Siddig, the Sudanese ambassador to Britain, was summoned for a second time to meet with the British foreign secretary late Thursday after the court's ruling.
Miliband also spoke to the Sudanese acting foreign minister for 15 minutes on the telephone during the meeting, the British Foreign Office said.
"Our priority now is to ensure Ms. Gibbons' welfare and we will continue to provide consular assistance to her," Miliband said in a statement.
The Foreign Office said there would be further talks with the Sudanese government Friday.
Gibbons was arrested Sunday after she asked her class of seven-year-olds in Khartoum to name the stuffed animal as part of a school project, the Foreign Office said.
She had faced charges under Article 125 of Sudan's constitution, the law relating to insulting religion and inciting hatred.
She could have faced a sentence of 40 lashes, a fine or jail term of up to a year, according to the Foreign Office, which expressed Britain's dissatisfaction with the verdict.
British newspapers condemned Gibbons' conviction, with The Daily Telegraph calling for the recall of the British ambassador from Khartoum and sanctions against the heads of the Sudanese government.
In an editorial the tabloid newspaper, The Sun, said Gibbons' jailing was a "grotesque insult to Islam" and called Gibbons "an innocent abroad."
Four vans filled with riot police were waiting outside the courthouse at Thursday's hearing, but there were no signs of street disturbances or protests.
Staff from Gibbons' school, including Robert Boulos, the head of Unity High School, were present.
Boulos said he was "horrified" when he found out it was a member of his own staff who complained, not a parent as originally thought.
Defense counsel later confirmed that the complaint came from Sarah Khawad, a secretary at the school.





Gibbons has been working at the school -- popular with wealthy Sudanese and expatriates -- since August, after leaving her position as deputy head teacher at a primary school in Liverpool this summer, Boulos said.
He said Gibbons asked the children to pick their favorite name for the new class mascot, which she was using to aid lessons about animals and their habitats. E-mail to a friend

I sometimes think the world would be a better place to live, if there was no religions at all. More death and destruction has been done in the name of God.

It's the government/religion, they are the same, which maintains laws based on the religion, which has created this issue. Thus, the religion inspires these governments and crazy groups. It isn't the other way around.

While I generally agree with that sentiment, this is their gov't doing it, not a lone whacko. And masses of people in the streets protesting that the punishment isn't harsh enough, calling for a firing squad.

Like I said, I generally subscribe to your sentiment, but it's getting harder and harder when you look at the fact that these govt's, encouraged by majorities of their population, continue enforcing these sorts of backwards, medieval laws.

__________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that. -George Carlin

Ken -

I agree with you, but I was responding specifically to the title of this thread.