British 'Teddy bear' teacher threatened with death - CoverUps.com

December 2007

Blasphemy

A British school teacher arrested in Sudan was charged with blasphemy, insulting Islam and inciting hatred after she permitted her pupils to name a teddy bear Mohammed. Worse, crowds of furious radical extremist called for her death. The disturbing details of story by Reuters on MSNBC.com follow:

• Gillian Gibbons, a teacher in Sudan on leave from Britain, faces 40 lashes, a six month prison sentence, or a fine if convicted of the crime of insulting Islam by calling a teddy bear Mohammed.
• The decision to press charges triggered diplomatic tensions between Sudan and Britain. David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary, summoned Sudanese diplomats in London to the Foreign Office for serious discussions.
• "We are surprised and disappointed by this development, and the Foreign Secretary will summon as a matter of urgency the Sudanese ambassador to discuss the matter further," a spokesman for Prime Minister Gordon Brown said.
• Teachers at Unity High School in central Khartoum said Gibbons, 54, made an innocent mistake and simply let her pupils choose their favorite name for the toy as part of a school project.
• "We are very worried about her safety," one source on the scene said. "This was a completely innocent mistake. Miss Gibbons would have never wanted to insult Islam."
• Gibbons, who joined Unity in August, asked a girl to bring in her teddy bear to help the second grade class focus, said Boulos.
• Gibbons then asked the class to name the bear. "They came up with eight names including Abdullah, Hassan and Mohammed. Then she explained what it meant to vote and asked them to choose the name." Twenty out of the 23 children chose Mohammed.
• Each child was allowed to take the bear home on weekends and asked to keep a diary about what they did with the bear. The entries were collected in a book with a picture of the bear on the cover, next to the message "My name is Mohammed," said Boulos.
• Sudanese Muslims demanded Gibbons’ execution by firing squad.

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Sudan Arrests Teacher Over 'Mohammed' Bear
(c) Reuters

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Our Take

Make no mistake, the rampage across Khartoum of fist-waving crowds is no spontaneous uprising: It is well-orchestrated public theater by extremists who know how easily they can exploit and fuel ignorance and rage. This news would border on the ridiculous if it were not so sadly true.

P.S.

In interviews conducted in Great Britain since her release from captivity, Gibbons did not take Muslims to task for their grossly excessive reaction to her “heretical” behavior. This seems all too typical of liberal westerners, who seem to cringingly accept uncivilized conduct by Muslims and only find fault in themselves for “offending” them.