Jailed British teacher says blaming herself
December 9, 2007 (LONDON) — A British teacher who was jailed in Sudan for naming a teddy bear Muhammad said in an interview published Sunday she blames herself for what she went through.
“I shouldn’t have done it,” the newspaper quoted her as saying. “Ignorance of the law is no defense.”
Gibbons was sentenced to 15 days in jail and deportation after a seven-hour trial in Khartoum, a judgment that triggered outrage worldwide and embarrassed moderate Muslims in Britain and elsewhere.
The sentence was eventually cut short after two Muslim members of British parliament, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi and Lord Nazir Ahmed, met with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to plead for her release. He pardoned her on Dec. 3, after she had spent more than a week in custody, and she returned home the next day.
Gibbons, who was kept in what she described as a filthy prison cell in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum before her trial, said that while she was never mistreated, she initially feared her captors would rape her, fears that were ultimately unfounded.
“You start imagining all sorts,” she said in the interview. “You start imagining that maybe some of the guards will come in and teach the blaspheming white woman a lesson.”
Gibbons also described moments of absurdity during the trial — including an incident in which the teddy bear was produced as evidence by a prosecutor — and how she toasted her release with a vodka and orange in her first-class cabin on her way back home.
“I’m not a drinker, but I felt obliged to have an alcoholic drink, even though I was with Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi, who are Muslims,” she said. “I was a bit embarrassed about it, but I thought I deserved that vodka.”
(AP)
Deng Akech Deng
Jailed British teacher says blaming herself
It was inevitable situation. You couldn’t have avoided it because the kids named the bear through voting. You didn’t know the name “Mohammed” or “Muhammed” was going to be chosen when you asked the kids to name the teddy bear, and you didn’t know if the kids would choose to give the bear one of their classmate, Mohammed’s name, it would be an insult to muslims or islamic regime in Sudan. Plus the whole thing doesn’t make any sense, jailing somebody because she gave an animal a human name. Mohammed is just a name. If muslims see anybody called Mohammed to be prophet, why would a prophet be taught by an ordinary teacher? Prophets are supposed to be God’s messenger or Allah’s messenger in muslims’ case, which means a prophet is a being instructed by God or Allah to teach or guide ordinary people, but not another way around as it was in your case. It is irrational and illogical. Therefore, I don’t see any need for you to blame yourself.
Deng Akech Deng
Canada
Kuol Madhier Anyang
Jailed British teacher says blaming herself
The whole thing is absurd and I would like anybody Muslims or none Muslims from Sudan to explain to the Nation what kind of law is sharia? and was it designed to protect Islams and Mohammad or anybody from Sudan?. Don’t you people in Khartoum think that it is time to revise your mind set, hello Sudan is not a Muslim or Arabs Country anymore!. Why do we all of sudden have a law and judges to enforce them when it was about “Mohammad”. Hu, what about genocide in Darfur and all the human rights abuse at large in Sudan. Ci Mohammad ya cak ne rin ke teddy de bear ye log gieu.