British Parliamentarians in Sudan seeking release of teddy teacher

December 1, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Two Muslim members of the House of Lords on a mercy mission to Sudan met with jailed British teacher Gillian Gibbons at a secret location in Khartoum on Saturday and said she was in good spirits.

Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi, from the upper house of parliament, arrived in Khartoum on Saturday and met with Gibbons who was jailed for 15 days on Thursday for allowing students to name a teddy bear Mohammed.

The meeting came the day after thousands demonstrated in Khartoum against what they said was a lenient sentence, with some calling for her death.

Gibbons was jailed and ordered to be expelled for allowing pupils in her class of seven- and eight-year-olds to give the bear the same name as the Muslim prophet, as part of a school project.

The prospect of the mother of two, who was arrested on November 25, facing a maximum sentence of 40 lashes, six months in jail and a fine, sparked outrage in Britain.

Warsi, a member of the Conservatives shadow cabinet, told Britain’s Sky News television by telephone that “Gillian was surprisingly in good spirits … She was actually in good humour. She was telling jokes.”

She said Sudan’s Islamist-led government “wants to resolve this matter … Clearly they are under pressure from many quarters here in Sudan.”

Foreign Secretary David Milliband again telephoned his counterpart, acting foreign minister Ahmed Karti, to express London’s “deep concern.”

He said Gibbons had been transferred to a “more comfortable and secure environment” where the peers met with her for an hour and a half.

Before meeting the teacher, the pair met with State Minister for Foreign Affairs Sumani al-Wassila and told him they were seeking amnesty for Gibbons, a source close to the government said.

Wassila said the peers were “also representing the Muslim community of Britain” where many of the faithful have been dismayed by the teacher’s jailing and by Friday’s angry demonstration.

A Sudanese government source said it was unlikely the two would meet President Omar al-Beshir on Saturday as he had previous engagements.

A British embassy spokesman told AFP the two were “on a private visit with the (Sudanese) government … We welcome any efforts to help in the case, but we’re not involved in their programme.”

The visit by the Muslim peers — more acceptable negotiating partners for Sudan’s Islamist regime than the government of former colonial master Britain — came as Gibbons’ lawyer said she did not want to appeal Thursday’s verdict.

PRESIDENTIAL PARDON

The lawyer for Gibbons voiced optimism that Gibbons might be freed by a presidential pardon. Hesaid President Omar al-Bashir could inform the visiting parliamentarians that he had pardoned the teacher.

Gibbons’ lawyer Kamal al-Gizouli said Sudan’s president could deliver news of a pardon when he meets the British visitors. But it was not immediately clear when they would meet.

“I would not be surprised if president of the republic will tell delegation we have dropped this charge,” al-Gizouli told The Associated Press.

Al-Gizouli said only the president has the power to lift Gibbons’ 15-day sentence which runs until Dec. 9.

“I did not appeal for practical reasons, because that’s what my client wanted.”

Gibbons, 54, was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in jail and deportation for insulting Islam by naming a teddy bear Muhammad – the name of Islam’s prophet. The naming was part of a class project for her 7-year-old students at a private school in Sudan.

Miliband has called in the Sudanese ambassador to London twice for talks on the issue, underlining that Gibbons’ actions were the result of an “innocent misunderstanding.”

Sudanese and British authorities have declined to say where Gibbons is being held out of concern about a repetition of Friday’s angry scenes when thousands of men marched through central Khartoum and some called for her execution.

The embassy official said Gibbons had spoken to her son on Friday and that “she was happy about that and she’s still doing well.”

The diplomatic crisis cames at a time when Khartoum was already at odds with the West over its actions in the war-torn region of Darfur.

The trial itself took place behind a significant police barrier to avoid demonstrations which, as with last year’s publication of caricatures of Prophet Mohammed in Denmark, have previously led to violence.

The spokesman for the Sudanese embassy in London blamed the Khartoum demonstrations after Friday prayers on members of “hardline” mosques.

“There are many mosques and different groups congregating in different mosques… After prayer, people in particular mosques, not the mainstream, were the ones shouting the slogans to this effect,” said Khalid al-Mubarak.

(AFP/AP)