Gillian Gibbons: Sudan ordeal ‘hasn’t killed my wanderlust’

Dec 10 2007 by Vicky Anderson, Liverpool Daily Post

THE Aigburth teacher jailed in Sudan says her ordeal hasn’t put her off travelling – because “if you can cope at an inner-city school in Liverpool, you can endure anything”.

Gillian Gibbons spoke for the first time this weekend of her horrific experiences after being arrested and imprisoned for letting her class name a teddy bear Mohammed.

She described appalling prison conditions and admitted she was “scared witless” after realising a mob outside were calling for her death.

Mrs Gibbons, 54, who left her job as deputy head teacher of Dovecot Primary School in July, is currently staying at a city centre hotel as she adapts to life back in the UK.

She said: “I jumped at any sudden noise. I kept expecting to hear savage cries and people breaking in brandishing weapons.”

The teacher had been told she could face six months’ imprisonment and even 40 lashes for insulting the prophet of Islam.

Mrs Gibbons learned that a school secretary had found out about the teddy bear and made a complaint.

The children had chosen the name and parents had been made aware of it by letter, with no complaints.

Although the director of the school told Mrs Gibbons she had “done a terrible thing”, it was accepted as a cultural misunderstanding.

But, a week later, police arrived after a copy of the letter sent to parents had been forwarded to the Ministry of Education.

She was sent to a police station in Khartoum and thrown into a holding cell, where they took a statement and forced her to sign it, despite it being written in Arabic.

“I stood for hours,” she told a Sunday newspaper.

“I didn’t want to sit or lie down. The floor was disgusting, there were ants, cat faeces and what looked like human excrement – there was a swarm of mosquitoes. I’m terrified I may have caught malaria.

“When I shut my eyes, I still see a man with a machine gun and prison bars and I hear the screams.”

When she was told by the British Consul about the mob, “I realised I was in very big trouble. From that moment, I felt like a pawn in some dreadful game.”

Three days later, she was moved to a cleaner, new complex where she was the only prisoner.

In court, she said the teddy was put in the dock, still in its school uniform.

“I told the judge it’s not realistic that I would come all the way to Sudan to insult the prophet,” Mrs Gibbons said.

“But the prosecution were giving it both barrels, saying ‘she deserves to be punished’. The judge clearly thought so, too.”

It was not until last Monday she learned she would be pardoned by President Omar al-Bashir.

Despite protests from her children, John, 25, and Jessica, 27, she now plans to find a teaching job in China.

vickyanderson