The British teacher who let her class of Sudanese seven-year-olds name a teddy bear “Mohammed” has been sentenced to 15 days in jail followed by deportation from Sudan for insulting Islam. Gillian Gibbons had faced a maximum sentence of a year in jail and 40 lashes if convicted of all charges. A crowd that gathered outside the jail called for the teacher’s death.
Gibbons’ 25-year-old son, John, fears her treatment will lead to a backlash.
“I don’t want the verdict to lead to any anti feeling towards Muslims. Everyone has been very nice, but one of my fears, and I imagine my mother’s also, will be that this results in any sort of resentment towards Muslim people.”
It might not be Mum’s number one concern just now.
Teachers from Western countries should be very wary about taking jobs in Sudan or similar countries.
Update: On The View, co-hosts Sherri Shepherd and Whoopi Goldberg think the teacher should have learned local customs on stuffed-animal naming so as to avoid being an “ugly American.” From Liverpool.
Update II: Scrappleface reports that plans for a “Tickle Me Muhammad” doll have been put on hold.
The British don’t have much luck in the Sudan.
The son’s statement is moronic. While I certainly don’t have a problem with people who simply practice a religion different from my own, the truth is that this sort of intolerant stupidity has become more and more the mainstream of the Muslim world. And he is saying that we shouldn’t feel resentment (which is too mild a word anyway) against the neanderthals who do things such as this?
If Muslims want to make this sort of behavior (and that of the Saudi court that sentenced a rape victim to be beaten because she was alone with a man when the gang rape occurred) the face of their religion, they SHOULD be resented and feared and reviled. The same would be true of Christians or Jews or Hindus or whatever.
The son is clearly so “open minded” that his brains leaked out.
Ultimately, we are going to have to deny admission to the US of Islamist fundamentalists until they grow up. We need to ban travel in their countries, and withdraw diplomatic representation.
The government of the Sudan wants to rip the British for pressuring them on Darfur, thus the sudden outcry over a name of a toy. She sent the assignemnt home, so the parents of the children certainly knew about the project. And didn’t the kids know about their own religion’s prohibition of use of the name? The crowd of chanting fanatics are almost certainly in the pay of the Sudanese government. What was the British Foreign Office thinking in not getting her out of the country right away?
As Pat Condell says, “We don’t reject Sharia because it is different, we reject it because it is barbaric.“
She was informed upon by someone at the school, too:
During the court case behind closed doors yesterday it was revealed that the school’s office assistant, Sara Khawad, had complained to the education authorities - leading to the teacher’s arrest.
Anyone worried about what kind of treatment she may receive during those 15 days in their clink? Considering how they treat their own rape victims… I fear for her.
I doubt anything will happen to her during those 15 days - she will likely be placed in some special detention facility. Despite some of the Brits’ problems with our engagement in the Middle East, I doubt they would continue to preach non-intervention in light of a British citizen being harmed by a foreign government.
As for the View’s view… well, as we learned from Rosie, they aren’t the brightest bunch.
I’ve read that the Sudanese people were actually calling for her execution. It’s all very scary and while I do think you should have knowledge of local customs, I also think it’s unrealistic to be privy to everything so as to not offend anyone.
” I doubt they would continue to preach non-intervention in light of a British citizen being harmed by a foreign government.”
Wanna bet? Remember the recent taking of British sailors by Iran under the silent guns of a British warship.
Local customs have nothing to do with this. The Sudanese government wanted a stick to beat the British with, and they found it.
It is clear that Sudan, and perhaps most of the “governments” in mideast Islamic states, will do whatever seems necessary to poke a finger in the eye of the West at every opportunity.
Seems to me the answer is, maintain diplomatic relations where one can, but make it explicitly clear to anyone wshing to work there in whatever capactiy, that because you are a citizen of a western or east asian democracy (the Phillippines come to mind) you are likely to be targeted for essentially spurious “offenses”, and when or if convicted, you are going to be on your own.
Over the long term? Although most of the Islamic world does not understand it yet, they will change, or over the long term, they will eventually cease to exist.
With China as its main oil customer, I doubt that Sudan gives much of a damn what the West wants. No proposed military action would survive a Security Council veto, and I can’t imagine Britain blowing off the U.N. Obviously they don’t need to trade with Europe, as they can access any Western goods they need via China.
If the teacher makes it out alive in only 15 days, she should be grateful.
We need to quarantine nations that pull crap like this - If Imams and Pashas lose access to th civilized world perhaps they will grow up.
In the mean time, we need to demand extraterritorial rights like in Imperial China to protect necessary workers in those countries from non-Western laws.