[Reader-list] apeal for release and pardon of Gillian Gibbons in Sudan

[Yousuf]

Please write to the embassies mentioned on this link
for the release and pardon of the British teacher:

http://www.sudan.net/government/embassay.html
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Calls in Sudan for execution of Briton

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.

They 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.

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." 

The Federation of Student Islamic Societies, which
represents 90,000 Muslim students in Britain and
Ireland, called on Sudan's government to free Gibbons,
saying she had not meant to cause offense. 

"We are deeply concerned that the verdict to jail a
schoolteacher due to what's likely to be an innocent
mistake is gravely disproportionate," said the group's
president, Ali Alhadithi. 

The Ramadhan Foundation, a Muslim youth organization,
said Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir should pardon
the teacher. 

"The Ramadhan Foundation is disappointed and horrified
by the conviction of Gillian Gibbons in Sudan," said
spokesman Mohammed Shafiq. 

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. 




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