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Pardon Hoped for Briton in Sudan |
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Written by News Editor
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Sunday, 02 December 2007 |
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Only Sudan's president has the power to pardon a British teacher sentenced to 15 days imprisonment for insulting Islam after she let students name a teddy bear Muhammad, the justice minister said Sunday.
The comments came as two British Muslim parliamentarians, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi and Lord Nazir Ahmed of the House of Lords, moved into a second day of meetings with Sudanese officials with the goal of getting a pardon for Gillian Gibbons from President Omar al-Bashir.
"Any early pardon would be the exclusive prerogative of the president, I can't talk any more about it," Justice Minister Ali al-Mardhi told The Associated Press. He said he had just returned from a meeting in Cairo the night before and had yet to meet the British delegation.
The British embassy, which says the British peers are on a private visit, said that Gibbons was in good health. "The ambassador called on Miss Gibbons this morning and she was fine," said Omar Daair, embassy spokesman in Khartoum. He did not give any further details.
Gibbons, 54, was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in jail and deportation for insulting Islam by allowing her pupils to name the teddy bear Muhammad the name of Islam's prophet. The naming was part of a class project for her 7-year-old students at a private school in Sudan.
The teacher's conviction under Sudan's Islamic Sharia law shocked Britons, and the British government has said it was working with Sudan's regime to win her release.
Late on Saturday, Britain's Channel 4 News quoted Gibbons as saying in a statement from police custody that she was being treated well.
"I'm fine. I'm well," Channel 4 quoted Gibbons as saying. "I want people to know I've been well treated, and especially that I'm well fed. I've been given so many apples I feel I could set up my own stall. The guards are constantly asking if I have everything I need."
"The Sudanese people in general have been pleasant and very generous, and I've had nothing but good experiences during my four months here. I'm really sad to leave, and if I could go back to work tomorrow then I would."
Concern for Gibbons' safety was sparked Friday after thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and swords and beating drums, burned pictures of her and demanded her execution during a rally in the capital Khartoum.
"The Sudanese government (does) want to resolve this matter. ... (We) hope we can come to an amicable resolution soon," Warsi said after she and Ahmed met Sudanese officials Saturday.
"They've been very positive so far," Ahmed said in an interview with the BBC. "We've had very frank discussions, and we are very hopeful that ... we'll be meeting more ministers and officials and this will continue until such time as we can reach a satisfactory conclusion."
Gibbons was moved from the Omdurman women's prison to a secret location on Friday after the angry demonstrations against her. There was no overt sign that the government organized the protest, but such a rally could not have taken place without at least official assent.
Gibbons escaped harsher punishment that could have included up to 40 lashes, six months in prison and a fine. Her time in jail since her arrest this past Sunday counts toward the sentence.
During her trial, the weeping teacher said she had intended no harm. Her students, overwhelmingly Muslim, chose the name for the bear, and Muhammad is one of the most common names for men in the Arab world.
Giving the name of the Muslim prophet to an animal or a toy could be considered insulting. But Muslim scholars generally agree that intent is a key factor in determining if someone has violated Islamic rules against insulting the prophet.
Still, the case was caught up in the ideology that al-Bashir's Islamic regime has long instilled in Sudan, a mix of anti-colonialism, religious fundamentalism and a sense that the West is besieging Islam.
The uproar comes as the U.N. is accusing Sudan of dragging its feet on the deployment of peacekeepers in the western Sudanese Darfur region.
Associated Press Writer Mohamed Osman contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. |
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