More islamic bull
cut and pasted from (roto) reuters
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A British teacher detained in Sudan after her class called a teddy bear Mohammad was on Wednesday charged with insulting religion.
Gillian Gibbons, 54, was also charged with inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs, Sudanese official media said. If convicted, she could face 40 lashes, a fine, or one year in jail.
"Khartoum north prosecution unit has completed its investigation and has charged the Briton Gillian (Gibbons) under Article 125 of the criminal code," the Sudanese news agency SUNA said, quoting a senior Justice Ministry official.
The matter would go before a court on Thursday and Gibbons, who is from Liverpool, was expected to appear.
Fellow teachers said they did not believe Gibbons had intended to insult Islam and had made an innocent mistake in choosing the name.
In London, a British Foreign Office spokesman said: "We have confirmation she has been charged."
Earlier on Wednesday, three British embassy officials and a teaching colleague from the Unity High School where Gibbons worked were allowed to visit her for more than 90 minutes.
"I can confirm that we have met Ms. Gibbons and she said she is being treated well," said British consul Russell Phillips. "We remain in close contact with the Sudanese authorities on this case," he said, declining to give further details.
Gibbons was arrested after some parents complained about the bear being named after the Prophet Mohammad.
Teachers at the school said Gibbons had asked her class of 7-year-olds to choose their favorite name for the bear, and 20 of the 23 had voted for Mohammad.
WRITING EXERCISE
A 7-year-old student called Mohammad told Reuters this week that he had suggested his own name be used for the bear.
In a writing exercise students were allowed to take the bear home and asked to keep a diary of what they did with the toy. These accounts were put together in a book entitled "My Name is Mohammad."
Leaflets were distributed in Khartoum calling for protests after Friday prayers, but many ordinary Sudanese said they were ready to forgive Gibbons if she apologized.
"When we heard we wanted to demonstrate immediately but some said we should wait and see what the concerned authorities find out," said Abdallah, a science student.
Shopkeeper Sabir Abdel Karim said that if Gibbons had not intended to insult Islam, an apology to Muslims would be enough to end the problem.
"If the teacher apologized to the Sudanese people and to all Muslims because she insulted the Prophet Mohammad then this is enough to end the matter," he said.
"Any one can make a mistake and Muslims are forgivers. She will be forgiven and God will be the judge."
Many Sudanese had not heard the full story and thought she had made a model of an animal and named it Mohammad after Islam's Prophet.
Rumors of riots, violent protests and cars burning near the school were rife but the streets were calm and there was no sign of demonstrations.
Not all were ready to forgive and forget, however.
"She is a teacher and should be teaching her pupils to be respectful and have morals but instead she is doing the opposite," said Mohamed Toum, a law student
...............................................................................My God in heaven!!!! Potential 40 lashes for calling a stuffed animal, fricken mohammed, possibly jail time....ridiculous....oh but they are a forgiving culture........my ass they are. That social cancer is nothing but a return to barbarism......good ole christianity was also the motivation of a lot of atrocities documented throughout history, and I get that....jews and christians are not perfect, only god is. But there is nothing holy about whipping a fellow human being, or worse because of some stupid perceived infraction against your god....The great satan islam is so busy calling the west, is alive and well and calls himself a good holy islamic cleric, and spouts fatwas of hate and violence, and ruins the lives of so many.....the above clip from reuters is just another subtle shining example of the bullshit called radical islam!!!!,,,,,,riff
