Sudan plays down teddy blasphemy case

The Sudanese foreign ministry today downplayed the significance of a British teacher facing blasphemy charges for supposedly insulting Islam.

In the first official comment on the case that threatens to become a diplomatic row, a foreign ministry spokesman, Ali al-Sadeq, said the case of a "teacher's misconduct against the Islamic faith" should not have provoked a British government caution to its citizens in Sudan.

Sadeq said this was particularly so after the school had apologised to the parents, pupils and the Sudanese for the teacher's "unacceptable conduct".

In his monthly press conference, the prime minister, Gordon Brown, said he hoped Gillian Gibbons would be released soon.

"We have been in contact with, and will continue to be in contact with, the Sudanese police authorities and the Sudanese government to make sure that we can ascertain that she is safe and well and to clarify the position so that she can be released soon," he said.

Gibbons, who teaches at the private Unity high school in Khartoum, was arrested on Sunday after a pupil's parents complained, about her naming a teddy bear Muhammad.

Although a common name among Muslim men, connecting the prophet's name to an animal would be seen as insulting by many Muslims.

Several Sudanese newspapers ran a statement reportedly from Unity high school saying that Gibbons had been "removed from work at the school" and apologising for any offence, though it said the incident was a "misunderstanding".

Gibbons, 54, was teaching her pupils, who are around seven years old, about animals and asked one of them to bring in her teddy bear, according to Robert Boulos, the school's director.

She asked the pupils to pick names for it and they proposed Abdullah, Hassan and Muhammad. The pupils voted to name it Muhammad, he said.

Each child was allowed to take the bear home at weekends and write a diary about what they did with it. The diary entries were collected in a book with the bear's picture on the cover, labelled My Name is Muhammad, though the bear itself was never labelled with the name, he said.

There were widespread calls in Britain for Gibbons' release. The Muslim Council of Britain called on the Sudanese government to intervene in the case.

"This is a very unfortunate incident and Ms Gibbons should never have been arrested in the first place. It is obvious that no malice was intended," said Muhammad Abdul Bari, the council's secretary-general.

Omar Daair, spokesman for the British embassy in Sudan, said embassy officials were in touch with Sudanese authorities and had met Gibbons. He said he expected authorities to decide whether to bring her to court, and on what charges, within a few days.

"Her lawyer is trying to get her released on bail in the meanwhile," he said.

Last night a spokesman for the Sudanese embassy in London said he believed the teacher would be cleared and the "minute" issue resolved amicably very quickly.

Dr Khalid al-Mubarak told BBC Radio 4's PM programme the police had no choice but to follow procedure after a complaint from a parent.

"The police are bound to investigate just as is the case in any country in which there is rule of law. Our relationship with Britain is so good that we wouldn't like such a minute event to be overblown."

He added: "I am pretty certain that this minute incident will be clarified very quickly and this teacher who has been helping us with the teaching of children will be safe and will be cleared."

Asked about the potential punishments of six months in jail or 40 lashes, he said: "I hope people will not give their imagination free rein to think about such things."

Gibbons has been questioned by police on suspicion of abuse of religion, a charge that is punishable by up to six months in prison, a fine or flogging of up to 40 lashes under Sudan's legal system, which is based on sharia law.

MB Jeffries, a colleague of Gibbons, writing on the Guardian's Comment is Free site said no parents had complained about the bear's name.

"Having consulted with a number of religious Muslim people hereabouts, all are of the opinion that Gillian's offence (if it may be described as such) was to inadvertently offend religious sensibilities by allowing the children to name the teddy bear with the same name as the prophet," he wrote.

"As this was not done maliciously, or with deliberate intent, they are puzzled about why Gillian has been detained."