Gillian Gibbons: Don't be put off going to Sudan

Dec 5 2007 by Caroline Innes, Liverpool Daily Post

THE Liverpool teacher jailed in Khartoum for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Mohammed arrived back homeyesterday and said: "I don't want to put anyone of visiting Sudan."

Exhausted and relieved Gillian Gibbons, 54, embraced her children and spoke of an ordeal that made headlines around the world. Yet she was still able to show a little humour.

“I wouldn’t like to put anyone off going to Sudan,” she said. “In fact, I know of a lovely school that needs a new Year 2 teacher.”

Asked if she was going to carry on teaching she replied: “Well, I’m looking for a job because I’m jobless.

“So my immediate plan is to spend Christmas with my family, and then very seriously look for employment.”

Telling of when she was in prison, she said Sudan’s Ministry of the Inter- ior had sent her a bed. “It was prob- ably the best present I’ve ever had.”

Mrs Gibbons – who was jailed for 15 days and faced calls for her execution – said she was in “total shock” as she faced the media at Heathrow. Last night, she was believed to be back in Liverpool, resting in the city.

Delighted to be home and holding her son John’s hand, she said: “I went out there to have a bit of an adventure and got more than I bargained for.

“I’m looking forward to seeing my family and friends and to have a good rest. It has been an ordeal but I was well treated in prison and everyone was very kind to me.”

There was no trace of bitterness towards Sudan, with Mrs Gibbons saying: “I am very sorry to leave Sudan. I had a fabulous time.

“It is a beautiful place and I had a chance to see some of the countryside.

“The Sudanese people I found to be extremely kind and generous and until this happened I only had a good experience.”

Expressing her gratitude for the support and help she had received, she said: “It’s very nice people have been thinking of me and taking the time and trouble to send a message.

“And, also my long-suffering family, and all my friends in Liverpool and the rest of England. Thank you.”

Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke to Mrs Gibbons on her arrival in Britain, after she had spent more than a week in custody for allowing her seven-year-old pupils to name a teddy bear Mohammed.

She was sentenced to 15 days in prison but was released early after a rescue mission from British peers Lord Ahmed of Rotherham and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi that ended when Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir granted a pardon.

There were emotional scenes as she was reunited with her children John, 25, and Jessica, 27, who had travelled from Liverpool to welcome her.

Asked about the teddy bear row, she said: “I don’t really know enough about it. It is a very delicate area.

“I was very upset to think I might have caused any offence – very, very upset about it. Could anyone imagine this could happen? I don’t think anyone could have imagined that it would have snowballed like this.”

The arrest and jailing of Mrs Gib- bons had prompted demonstrations which saw thousands of protesters, many wielding weapons, stage a ter- rifying demonstration in Khartoum.

Chanting “Shame, shame on the UK”, they called for Mrs Gibbons’ execution, saying “No tolerance: Execution” and “Kill her, kill her by firing squad”.

Mrs Gibbons said she was unaware of the furore surrounding her case.

She said: “The second day in prison somebody told me they had seen me in a paper in Sudan and then I had a meeting with the British consul, who told me it was in the papers here too.

“I was isolated in custody and didn’t really hear what was going on.

“It has all come as a huge shock.”

Asked if it had been a terrifying experience, she replied: “Yes it was, yeah. That’s an understatement.”