Liverpool teacher arrested over Mohammed the teddy

Nov 26 2007

A BRITISH primary school teacher was in a Sudanese jail tonight facing 40 lashes if she is convicted of insulting Islam’s prophet by letting children name a teddy bear Mohammed.

Gillian Gibbons, 54, is in a Khartoum prison cell after being arrested on suspicion of blasphemy yesterday.

Ms Gibbons, who taught primary age children at the Unity High School in Khartoum, allowed her class of seven-year-olds to name a teddy bear Mohammed as part of a lesson about animals’ habitats.

Mohammed is sacred to Islamic philosophy and the penalty for blasphemy is 40 lashes, a large fine or a jail term.

Today, as the British Embassy in Khartoum confirmed Ms Gibbons’s arrest and a possible prosecution, her neighbours in leafy Aigburth, Liverpool, spoke of their shock.

Peter Sorensen, 64, a retired maintenance worker, who lived next door to Ms Gibbons for more than 20 years, said she had dedicated her life to teaching children.

He said: "Gillian was a very nice person and wouldn’t harm a fly.

"It is ridiculous what has happened.

"She left a note before she left saying she would see us at Christmas so she was planning on coming back."

Mr Sorenson lived next door to the teacher and her two children John and Jessica, believed to be in their mid-twenties, for more than 20 years.

He said: "She will be going through hell in jail over there.

"I think what has happened must have come out of the blue - it is dangerous territory, she probably hasn’t realised that.

"She wouldn’t do anything to anyone."

Ms Gibbons moved to Sudan after the break up of her 32-year marriage to Peter Gibbons, also a teacher.

He was unavailable for comment today.

A spokesman for the British Embassy in Khartoum said: "The children chose the name because it is very common here.

"This happened in September and the parents did not have a problem with it.

"We are in contact with the authorities here and they have visited the teacher and she is in a good condition."

A source close to the school said one teacher was angered by the naming of the teddy bear and complained to the headmistress.

The source, who did not want to be named, said: "The story, unconfirmed, is that one of the teachers has a grudge with the headmistress and wants to move this whole case.

"According to what I was told, she was kicked out from the principal’s office and belongs to one of the established conservative families in Khartoum."

Today, a spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said: "We can confirm that a British national was detained by the police yesterday.

"We are in contact with the local authorities and have requested access."

Tonight, Ms Gibbons’s children declined to comment about her arrest.

A family spokeswoman said: "I have spoken with her children and they do not want to say anything and aggravate the situation over there.

"They have decided not to say anything."

Ms Gibbons was a deputy headteacher at Liverpool’s Dovecot Primary School from 2002 to this July when she left for Sudan.

Headteacher Gillian Jones, said: "We are all naturally shocked and extremely concerned at this news.

"Gillian is a very talented and able teacher and she was extremely popular with the pupils at this school.

"She had kept in regular touch after she left at the end of the summer term, and the last we heard from her was that she was happy and finding her work very rewarding.

"We are all thinking of her at this difficult time and are absolutely certain that there is no way that she will have done anything to intentionally insult any religion."

A news item on the Sudanese Media Centre website - closely associated with the Sudanese government - reported that the teacher could be prosecuted under "faith and religions" legislation.

It states: "Khartoum attorney office opens a claim under article 125 of the criminal law (insult of faith and religions) against a British national female teacher named Julian <sic>  working for unruly school in Khartoum.

"Head of the attorney offices Mutusim Abdallah told (smc) that legal arrangements are under way to issue warrant of arrest against the suspect upon a complaint presented by the ministry of education.

"Abdallah said the suspect teacher printed the name of Prophet Mohammed PBUH on a doll in a shape of bear.

"Then she wrote letters to student guardians telling them that they should receive a doll on which the name Mohamed is printed.

"However this event was met with wide condemnation by guardians of the students."