In Sudan, a blasphemous teddy bear

A newly arrived English teacher was charged Wednesday for allowing her primary-school class to name a teddy bear Mohammad.

By Rob Crilly | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

from the November 29, 2007 edition

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Khartoum, Sudan - The faded brick buildings of Unity High School, one of Khartoum's exclusive British seats of learning, must have seemed like a paradise to Gillian Gibbons as she arrived in Sudan.

After a career teaching in the rough schools of northern England she was embarking on a new phase, educating the children of Sudan's elite. But Wednesday, Ms. Gibbons was charged with inciting hatred, insulting religion, and showing contempt of religious beliefs – a crime punishable by up to 40 lashes.

At issue: she allowed her primary-school students to name a class teddy bear Mohammad – the name of Islam's holiest prophet, likenesses of whom are forbidden by the religion.

"A lot of people – in schools, in mosques – are saying they are angry and that she should not think the prophet is like an animal," said a taxi driver parked Wednesday in the dusty side street outside the police facility where she was being held. "Me, I think she was silly. Nothing more."

Gibbons has been in a Sudanese cell since police arrested her Sunday to question her about what colleagues insist was an inadvertent error.

Sitting in his study, surrounded by sepia-tinted photographs of the school's colonial heyday, Robert Boulos, Unity's director, says Gibbons had only arrived in the country in August.

"This was a completely innocent mistake," he says. "Miss Gibbons would have never wanted to insult Islam."

Part of a project on learning about animals

The bizarre saga that has put the former deputy head teacher under suspicion began back in September, says Mr. Boulos.

The class, like many in Britain, was asked to bring a teddy bear into school as part of a project on bears. A 7-year-old girl brought in a cuddly toy and it was dressed in old clothes.

Each weekend it would be sent home with a different pupil, who would update a diary on the bear's activities.

Problems arose with the naming of the bear. The issue was put to a vote and the 23 pupils overwhelmingly picked Mohammad – also the name of one of the class's most popular boys.

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