Seriously?
 

I sent this to a friend, and we were talking about how crazy we thought this was . . . any opinions . . .


Briton Guilty in Sudan Blasphemy Case
By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU,

AP
Posted: 2007-11-29 17:05:02
Filed Under: World News
KHARTOUM, Sudan (Nov. 29) - A British teacher in Sudan was convicted Thursday of the less-serious charge of insulting Islam for letting her pupils name a teddy bear "Muhammad," and was sentenced to 15 days in prison and deportation to Britain, one of her lawyers said.

Gillian Gibbons could have received 40 lashes and six months in prison in the case if found guilty of the more serious charge of inciting religious hatred and given the maximum penalty.

Photo Gallery: 'Very Serious and Very Unfair'
Reuters
A court in Sudan on Thursday convicted British elementary school teacher Gillian Gibbons, here in an undated photo, of "insulting the faith of Muslims" for letting her pupils name a teddy bear Muhammad.
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In London, the Foreign Office said it was "extremely disappointed with the sentence," adding that Foreign Secretary David Miliband summoned the Sudanese ambassador to explain the verdict.

Gibbons, 54, was arrested Sunday after complaints to the Education Ministry that she had insulted Prophet Muhammad, the most revered figure in Islam, by applying his name to a teddy bear.

She was found guilty of "insulting the faith of Muslims in Sudan" under Article 125 of the Sudanese criminal code, a less-serious charge than the original count of inciting religious hatred, said Ali Mohammed Ajab, a member of her defense team.

The charge later was confirmed by a judge who was leaving the closed court session.

"I feel this is very serious and very unfair," Ajab told The Associated Press outside court. Ajab, who also works for the Khartoum Center for Human Rights, said the issue was raised by "hard-liners who are always trying to make some noise," in an apparent reference to religious conservatives.

Ajab said his center would appeal the verdict.

Gibbons' employer, Robert Boulos of the Unity High School, called it "a very fair verdict."

"She could have had six months and lashes and a fine, and she only got 15 days and deportation," Boulos said. He noted that she would only spend 10 days in prison, having already served five.

Gibbons is expected to serve her sentence in the Omdurman women's prison near Khartoum.

Religious conservatives in Sudan were outraged by the naming of the teddy bear, and defense lawyers reported receiving death threats.

"I am threatened, that's why I'm carrying a gun in court," defense lawyer Abdel Khalig Abdallah said, opening his coat to reveal a revolver during a break in the trial.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2007-11-29 15:51:11

Duh. Everyone knows that teddy bears are evil.

When in Sudan, do as the Sudanese do.

Im not sure what to think.
I think its crazy, but im not sure there wouldnt be a shit storm here (for different reasons) if a teacher had a teddy bear named Jesus Christ in her room....


Lashings would be cool only if she is hawt, nakeed and they find their way to You Tube.

Well, here she is:

This has been all over the British press this week. She allowed the children to name the teddy bears and one of the kids wanted to name a bear after himself. Unfortunately the kid was called Muhammad.

If he'd been called Bob, it would never have made the papers.

I'd heard that the kids had a vote, and that Muhammad was the popular choice, but not that it was named after one of the kids. Damn, what kind of egotist wants to name the class teddy bear after himself?

We should invade Sudan for this.

I was more impressed by the thousands of Sudanese, some wielding clubs & knives, who took to the streets afterwards demanding that the teacher be executed.
http://apnews.myway.com//article/200...D8T80JPG0.html

Why waste the time or manpower?

A thorough carpet bombing should do several hundred million dollars worth of civic improvements so it's a win-win alternative.

Welcome to Africa.

they do have oil...

wow other countries are different from ours this is shocking

Yes, seriously.

This made me wonder why parents who name their kids Muhammed are not punished. Most of the time human beings grow up to do more harm than teddy bears...

Seriously.

Sudan is where Bin Laden worked to develop an Islamic regime (and certainly worked to train terrorists), supporting the Taliban financially and with internal improvement projects before being run out of town for complicated reasons. It's unsurprising that there is a lot of militant anti-Western feeling there.

hay guys, did yall hear that in new orleans, they refer to medians as "neutral grounds"

can you believe that shit i mean damn

btw, this is why I'm afraid to travel to other countries. I'm fearful that I'm going to unwittingly break some law and end up in prison.

Most of the stuff you want to do is illegal here too.

Why aren't they punishing the children? After all they are the ones who named it.

You make it sound like people are making fun of funny hats that they wear.

They want to execute this broad over a teddy bear. At some point, cultural differences reach the realm of simply being "backwards". This is one of those times.

if you say so

Khartoum is a city of over 2 million and the BBC reports there were 300 at the protest wanting the teacher executed. Seems a bit of a small sample to be able to claim that "they" want to execute the lady.

Any city in the world can whip up 300 whackjobs to protest just about any whackjob issue.

Its ridiculous - I don't think there is any vestige of doubt about that. Its the equivalent of a country run by JIMGA's.

ha

It's okay to name people Mohammed. Naming objects or pets Mohammed is classed as idolatry, apparently.

Sounds like she got off pretty lightly, all told. I feel sorry for the poor woman, but also for the kids in the school she was teaching at. I read somewhere that they have a hard enough time trying to recruit people as it is. Now imagine what their job ads are going to look like? "Must hold relevant teaching qualification, must be able to supply good references, ability to endure forty lashes in event of cultural faux pas is desirable, etc."

Seriously?

You think?

http://fieldsfanschicago.org/

How so? Having lived there, I'd love to hear how this is representative.

I think that was a play on the "Welcome to Hollywood" phrase that was so popular here for a while...

In which case, I'm an idiot. Thanks Jeebs. :D

That and I thought I read she hadn't been in country for very long. Seemed apropos.

I wonder if there are people in Sudan reading news stories from the USA saying

"Man, American government is fucked up. How can they allow some religous group to protest funerals for dead soldiers and not do anything about it?"

More like:

Are you kidding me? Some people in America don't get to watch the Packers and the Cowboys. What a fucked up country."

a well-traveled idiot, though

True, and not-one who dresses like David Spade (+ 100 lbs). :D

Maybe. But she did end up with 2 weeks jail, deportation, and I'm sure, a fear of a much worse fate.

So they've advanced maybe to 400 AD on the culture progress scale.

You have to make sure you zero your scale. The whackjobs are the ones who want to give her 40 lashes - the 300 protesters are insisting that the whackjobs are not whacky enough, they should be more whacky.

The country has strict religious laws. No doubt the teacher had NFI the trouble it would cause her, but really, if you are going to live and work in a place like Sudan, you owe it to yourself to research things like this. I've casually read more than enough news stories like this in the past to know that you don't name something like a teddy bear after their religion's number 1 prophet. Not in Sudan, at least.

Here's the problem in The Sudan. None of the men there know the feeling of a fine, velvety Pumpy Tudors mustache. It's like a chamois for your upper lip. Entire cities have chilled out after adopting it.

Pumpy Tudors must travel to The Sudan as an International Mustache Ambassador! Only then will mankind know peace in our time.