Thread: Thousands In Sudan Call For Teacher's Execution

Thousands in Sudan Call for British Teddy Bear Teacher's Execution

Friday, November 30, 2007
Gillian Gibbons

KHARTOUM, Sudan — Thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and knives, rallied Friday in a central square and demanded the execution of a British teacher convicted of insulting Islam for allowing her students to name a teddy bear "Muhammad."

The protesters streamed out of mosques after Friday sermons, as pickup trucks with loudspeakers blared messages against Gillian Gibbons, the teacher who was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation. She avoided the more serious punishment of 40 lashes.

They massed in central Martyrs Square outside the presidential palace, where hundreds of riot police were deployed. They did not try to stop the rally, which lasted about an hour.

"Shame, shame on the U.K.," protesters chanted.

Calls by FOXNews.com to Sudan's permanent mission to the United Nations were not returned Friday.

The protesters called for Gibbons' execution, saying, "No tolerance: Execution," and "Kill her, kill her by firing squad."

The women's prison where Gibbons is being held is far from the square.

RelatedStories

Wait and See? Several hundred protesters, not openly carrying weapons, marched about a mile away to Unity High School, where Gibbons worked. They chanted slogans outside the school, which is closed and under heavy security, then marched toward the nearby British Embassy. They were stopped by security forces two blocks away from the embassy.

The protest arose despite vows by Sudanese security officials the day before, during Gibbons' trial, that threatened demonstrations after Friday prayers would not take place. Some of the protesters carried green banners with the name of the Society for Support of the Prophet Muhammad, a previously unknown group.

Many protesters carried clubs, knives and axes — but not automatic weapons, which some have brandished at past government-condoned demonstrations. That suggested Friday's rally was not organized by the government.

A Muslim cleric at Khartoum's main Martyrs Mosque denounced Gibbons during one sermon, saying she intentionally insulted Islam. He did not call for protests, however.

"Imprisoning this lady does not satisfy the thirst of Muslims in Sudan. But we welcome imprisonment and expulsion," the cleric, Abdul-Jalil Nazeer al-Karouri, a well-known hard-liner, told worshippers.

"This an arrogant woman who came to our country, cashing her salary in dollars, teaching our children hatred of our Prophet Muhammad," he said.

Britain, meanwhile, pursued diplomatic moves to free Gibbons. Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke with a member of her family to convey his regret, his spokeswoman said.

"He set out his concern and the fact that we were doing all we could to secure her release," spokeswoman Emily Hands told reporters.

Most Britons expressed shock at the verdict by a court in Khartoum, alongside hope it would not raise tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims in Britain.

"One of the good things is the U.K. Muslims who've condemned the charge as completely out of proportion," said Paul Wishart, 37, a student in London.

"In the past, people have been a bit upset when different atrocities have happened and there hasn't been much voice in the U.K. Islamic population, whereas with this, they've quickly condemned it."

Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, accused the Sudanese authorities of "gross overreaction."

"This case should have required only simple common sense to resolve. It is unfortunate that the Sudanese authorities were found wanting in this most basic of qualities," he said.

The Muslim Public Affairs Committee, a political advocacy group, said the prosecution was "abominable and defies common sense."

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, said Gibbons' prosecution and conviction was "an absurdly disproportionate response to what is at worst a cultural faux pas."

Foreign Secretary David Miliband summoned the Sudanese ambassador late Thursday to express Britain's disappointment with the verdict. The Foreign Office said Britain would continue diplomatic efforts to achieve "a swift resolution" to the crisis.

Gibbons was arrested Sunday after another staff member at the school complained that she had allowed her 7-year-old students to name a teddy bear Muhammad. Giving the name of the Muslim prophet to an animal or a toy could be considered insulting.

The case put Sudan's government in an embarrassing position — facing the anger of Britain on one side and potential trouble from powerful Islamic hard-liners on the other. Many saw the 15-day sentence as an attempt to appease both sides.

In The Times, columnist Bronwen Maddox said the verdict was "something of a fudge ... designed to give a nod to British reproof but also to appease the street."

Britain's response — applying diplomatic pressure while extolling ties with Sudan and affirming respect for Islam — had produced mixed results, British commentators concluded.

In an editorial, The Daily Telegraph said Miliband "has tiptoed around the case, avoiding a threat to cut aid and asserting that respect for Islam runs deep in Britain. Given that much of the government's financial support goes to the wretched refugees in Darfur and neighboring Chad, Mr. Miliband's caution is understandable."

Now, however, the newspaper said, Britain should recall its ambassador in Khartoum and impose sanctions on the Sudanese regime.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,314111,00.html

[quote]My friend Mohammed
Posted by Christopher Howse on 28 Nov 2007 at 15:02
Tags: Sudan, Mohammed, Jesus, teddy bear
In a discussion about a teddy bear called Mohammed on a BBC website, one contributor says:


Would it be all right to call a toy Jesus?

"I am a mid-30s liberal Christian and yet I wonder how I would react if the teacher of my children named a toy bear Jesus. All innocence aside it just doesn't seem the right thing to do." Jonathon, Brisbane, Australia

But by the same token, Jonathon, who doesn’t seem very expert even in spelling his own name, would probably not think it “the right thing to doâ€

"Imprisoning this lady does not satisfy the thirst of Muslims in Sudan. But we welcome imprisonment and expulsion," the cleric, Abdul-Jalil Nazeer al-Karouri, a well-known hard-liner, told worshippers.

This says a lot to me.

When the clergy are saying, in almost as many words, that they have a bloodthirsty mass of worshipers, and show no intentions to curtail that bloodthirst, but rather to support it, there is a fundamental problem within the religion as they practice it (which, sadly, seems to be the base instead of the exception for this religion).

I do NOT want this mentality, these herds of bloodthirsty persecutionists, moving en mass into the country my child lives in. It is bad enough that they exist, but that cannot be allowed to exists in the United States of America, these are not the calls to arms of a freedom loving people.

I'm glad they are a religion of peace, imigine if they were intolerant?
*Sarcasm off*

British Muslims Organize Protest outside Sudanese Embassy: Free Gillian Gibbons Now!
MPAC-UK

Posted Nov 30, 2007 • Permalink • Printer-Friendly Version

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

British Muslims Organize Protest outside Sudanese Embassy: Free Gillian Gibbons Now!

MPAC-UK

In regards to the current situation MPACUK and Emel magazine are organising a protest calling for a stop to the outrageous decision by a Sudanese Court to jail British teacher, Gillian Gibbons, for allowing her class of seven-year-olds name a teddy bear Muhammad.

54 year old Ms Gibbons has been jailed for 15 days, having already served 5 of those 10 days. Now hundreds of Sudanese protesters have called for the death of the poor woman in Capital Khartoum, proving just how out of control this situation has become.

The British government and Sudanese Government need to be working harder and faster at making sure that Ms Gibbons returns home safe and sound.

We invite you to voice your anger and concerns at the protest taking place outside the Sudanese embassy in London Tomorrow, 1st December at 2 pm.

Embassy of the Republic of Sudan
3 Cleveland Row
St. James’s
London
SW1A 1DD

http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.ph ... bb/0015055

"Imprisoning this lady does not satisfy the thirst of Muslims in Sudan.

These are not mentalities that can be reasoned with...they are blinded with seething hate. The generous hand is recoiled as a bloody stump. Thanks be to moon god .

These people are ignorant beyond comprehension. I'm a Christian and as such I do take offense if anybody ridicules Jesus but fortunately I'm not an idiot and I certainly would not want anybody put in jail for something as stupid as naming a teddy bear mohammed much less executed. I can tell you one thing though, if anybody named a teddy bear Jesus, there is no way I would take offense to that. I will be purchasing a pet mouse today.

This is absolute nonsense! I agree, you can't reason with this hateful mentality.

It might not be tasteful to name a pet Jesus, but there would be no jail time for it. Our western concepts of slander and defamation do not allow for such charges to be brought on behalf of anyone who is not subject to harm by the offense. That is why you can't sue for slander in the west on behalf of a deity or someone who is deceased. There are also tougher standards to meet for someone who is a public figure.

Killing a woman who is trying to help them?? Religion of peace my butt! Why do these idiots have to overreact to every slight infraction on thier so called religion?!?! Remember the riots in Denmark over a comic strip? What a bunch of raving lunatics!!!!!!!!!!!