Teddy Bear Lands Teacher in Trouble

Source: ABC News

A 7-year-old Sudanese student on Tuesday defended the British teacher accused of insulting Islam saying he had chosen to call a teddy bear Mohammad because it was his own name.

Gillian Gibbons, a 54-year-old teacher at the Unity High School in Khartoum, was arrested on Sunday after complaints from parents that she had insulted Islam's Prophet by allowing the bear to be named Mohammad. She is facing a third night in jail without being formally charged.

"The teacher asked me what I wanted to call the teddy," the boy said shyly, his voice barely rising above a whisper. "I said Mohammad. I named it after my name," he added.

Sitting in his garden wearing shorts, his family, who did not want their full names used, urged him to describe what had happened.

He said he was not thinking of Islam's Prophet when asked to suggest a name, adding most of the class agreed with his choice.


Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3918198

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This undated and unlocated portrait taken from the profile webpage of Gillian Gibbons on Friendsreunited.co.uk website shows the British teacher who was held 26 November 2007 in Sudan for allegedly insulting Islam's prophet by allowing children to call a teddy bear Mohammed. As Gibbons woke up 27 November to a second day in police detention, Justice Minister Mohammed Ali Mardhi was quoted in the local press as ordering General Prosecutor Salaheddin Abu Zaid to take personal charge of the case."This lady was arrested because of a complaint under article 125 of the penal code and the investigation is continuing," Abu Zaid told AFP. (Friendsrunited.co.uk/ AFP/ Getty Images)

More lunacy from the Islamic fundies! If you're so f'ing insulted expel her from the country - your kids loss. IMHO anyone who isn't of your religion ought not to be sentenced under your religious law!

This is about making foreigners afraid to go to Sudan, which would give them a freer hand in genocide and their other crimes. This has nothing to do with Islam, other than that's a cover. They don't want European teachers, aid workers, or anything in the country, but it's not for religious reasons.

"Mohammad" being the winning name.

I don't understand why it is blasphemy to name a teddy bear "Mohammad" but permissible to name children "Mohammad." It's a very popular name among Muslims.

of course.

According to another poster, the answer is that this is seen as naming an animal after Muhammad. Probably most of us would not think of a teddy bear as an animal but I see the logic they're following. It's a toy that looks like an animal.

I wouldn't name a dog or cat, or a teddy bear "Jesus" but I wouldn't name a child "Jesus," either. It's a cultural thing. If I were Latina, I might name a boy "Jesus" but not a pet and probably not a teddy bear. So this is similar to the practice among Spanish-speaking Christians. "Jesus" and "Mohammad" are acceptable names for boys/men but not for animals.

Fucking muslims and fucking islam and fucking mohammed don't get a pass just because they're muslims/islam/mohammed.

I think I'll name my next turd Mohammed as a fitting tribute that all asswipe religiousiosity and over zealous assholes deserve...

Fuck the intollerant...

think of a teddy bear as an animal, it is a toy that more or less looks like an animal.

What if it had been a boy doll that the class named "Muhammad"? Would that have been blasphemy or acceptable?

It still seems that they're being overly harsh on the teacher since the kids chose the name. As Muslim kids, shouldn't they have known not to name an "animal" after Muhammad?

I think people should learn the customs of a country and be respectful of them while there, but I can imagine that the teacher did a lot of reading without this particular issue having come up. I can't imagine that she did this knowing it was an insult to Islam. That would be rude and incredibly stupid.

If charged and convicted of insulting Islam, Gibbons could be sentenced to 40 lashes, six months in prison or a fine, lawyers said.

Teaching colleagues and officials from the British embassy brought food for Gibbons but were not allowed to visit her.

3, 2, 1...

Psh. What bullshit. The Christians do all kinds of sick shit, and it's just as stupid and barbaric as this garbage.
Stupid crap is stupid crap, no matter what religion does it.
By the way, welcome to DU! :hi:

We can thank the Saudis for brilliantly spreading their strain of Sunni Islam to their brethren in Sudan.

I am not a sharia scholar, but technically it was the children who 'named' the bear. She should be released immediately!

Such as? (besides the molestation in the clergy).

When was the last time a Christian, or for that matter, any non-Islamist, sentenced a teacher to 40 lashes for giving a child's toy a name?

And before you start blah-blahing about the crusades, we're living and talking about events in the 21st Century.

:sarcasm:

I'm skeptical.

I work with one and IM/email with several overseas at my job

:argh:

CORRECTION:

Only for male humans.

He just beat the crap out of people. But it's not about Islam.

the other guy is a Kufir (i.e. non-Muslim).

of why a strict separation of church and state is important to the health of a country.

I couldn't agree more.

I think someone may have told their government just how stupid this was making them look.

very hard when this kind of shit is just handed to them.

I doubt very much the British would allow a citizen of theirs to get beaten and thrown in jail for this nor should they.

I especially hate the religions with nutso fundies.

Good luck to Ms. Gibbons. :thumbsup:

not a g.d. teddy bear

A British teacher detained in Sudan after her class called a teddy bear Mohammad was charged on Wednesday with insulting Islam in a move that sparked a diplomatic row between London and Khartoum.

Gillian Gibbons, 54, was also charged with inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs, Sudanese official media said. If convicted, she could face 40 lashes, a fine, or one year in jail.

"Khartoum North prosecution unit has completed its investigation and has charged the Briton Gillian (Gibbons) under Article 125 of the criminal code," the Sudanese news agency SUNA said, quoting a senior Justice Ministry official.

In London, a British Foreign Office spokesman confirmed that Gibbons had been charged and officials said Foreign Secretary David Miliband was calling in the Sudanese ambassador over the affair.

"We are surprised and disappointed by this development and the foreign secretary will summon as a matter of urgency the Sudanese ambassador to discuss this matter further," Prime Minister Gordon Brown's official spokesman said.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3924873

Anything else is asking for trouble from British special forces.

religious nut cases. :puke:

so concerned about being offended by this kind of thing then they should not have Westerners teaching in their country.

When a teacher comes from another country it cannot be expected that they would know all the dogma of the dominant religion or all of the laws either.

THis is just nuts. Why couldn't someone just have said to her, "We don't name teddy bears after our Phrophet" and move on from there.

Jusitce Minister. Sheesh. What an oxymoron. No justice here, just sadism under the umbrella of batshit insane fundamentalist dogma.

Mz Pip
:dem:

Reports say the foreign ministry would like the whole thing to go away; but there's a religious affairs dept or something similar, which seems to want a fight with a western country for the sake of it.



They had a discussion on the BBC between the Sudanese ambassador to the UK, and the head of one of the main British Muslim organisations. The Briton was saying it's crazy, there was no malice, it's plain she should be released, and the ambassador was somewhat shame-facedly saying the government couldn't interfere with an independent judiciary (yeah, right - just about any government could halt a case like this it it wanted to).

snip

"We oppose them coming because China is not interested in human rights. It is just interested in Sudan's resources. We are calling on them to quit Sudan, especially the petroleum areas."

China has advised Sudan to co-operate with UN efforts to resolve the crisis but remains its largest arms supplier, with sales increasing 25-fold between 2002 and 2005.

Total trade rose 124 per cent in the first half of 2007 compared with 2006.


'Oil for blood'

snip

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/0B011888-A6D4-4E1C-B13D-B6F43F552059.htm

As long as the Chinese don't get thrown in prison or flogged because of the local customs concerning mohammad, this little school marm mole hill will be as loud as it gets concerning religious abuses.