Gillian Gibbons plans to move abroad - again

Dec 19 2007

Gillian Gibbons, the teacher jailed in Sudan for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Mohammed, is planning a new job - “somewhere warm”, she said today.

The 54-year-old told said that she wants to get a new teaching job in the new year and has not ruled out working in a Muslim country at some point.

Mrs Gibbons, of Aigburth, Liverpool, said: “I don’t want to spend too much time maybe feeling sorry for myself.

“I want to get back to teaching.

“I thought I was starting a new life in Sudan and that was taken away so I will have to start again.”

The divorced mother of two was freed after two British Muslim peers flew to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, to champion her cause.

She was spared a flogging after a seven-hour trial at which she was sentenced to 15 days in jail.

Her treatment caused international outrage, with British Muslim groups describing her treatment as excessive.

Today, she revealed that her passport is stamped “Deportee” and that she would like to return to an Islamic country at some point.

“I have no problem going to a Muslim country,” she said.

“But they might have a problem with me, so for now I will stay clear... maybe in a couple of years.”