School project leaves British teacher facing 40 lashes
Pastor Dale Morgan
'My name is Muhammad' - school project leaves British teacher facing 40
lashes*
· Class of seven-year-olds chose name for cuddly toy
· UK diplomats urgently trying to secure release
Xan Rice in Nairobi and Andrew Heavens in Khartoum
Tuesday November 27, 2007
The Guardian
It seemed the most innocent of school projects. To encourage her
seven-year-old pupils to learn about the animal kingdom, Gillian Gibbons
asked them to find a name for a teddy bear. Unfortunately, they chose
Muhammad.
Now the 54-year-old teacher from Liverpool is being held in a Sudanese
jail facing charges of insulting Islam's prophet. She was detained at
her residence at the exclusive British-styled Unity High School in the
capital Khartoum on Sunday after a number of parents complained to the
Ministry of Education.
The state-run Sudanese Media Centre reported that Khartoum's attorney's
office would charge her under an act of Sharia Law dealing with "insult
of faith". She could face a punishment of 40 lashes, six months in
prison or a fine.
Religion is a particularly sensitive subject in Sudan, which has a
largely Muslim north, including Khartoum, and a Christian and animist
south. The publication of the notorious cartoons of the prophet Muhammad
in a Danish newspaper last year were greeted by orchestrated protests in
mosques and public places, while 10 people were sentenced to death by
hanging last month for kidnapping and beheading a Sudanese newspaper
editor who had reprinted an article questioning the roots the prophet's
roots.
Fearing reprisals, the Unity's governors decided yesterday to close its
doors until January. Robert Boulos, the school director, said he was
"very worried for Miss Gibbons's safety". "This was a completely
innocent mistake. She would have never wanted to insult Islam."
British Embassy officials are urgently trying to secure her release. A
spokesman said the embassy had been allowed to visit Gibbons in prison,
and that she was in good health "if quite shaken". He said it was not
clear whether she had been formally charged. Diplomats said the embassy
was in contact with the Khartoum police in an attempt to resolve her case.
The teddy bear incident occurred in September, a month after Gibbons
arrived in Sudan to join the staff at Unity, an independent multifaith
school in one of the quietest and greenest corners of Khartoum. Its 750
pupils include the sons and daughters of some of the city's wealthiest
citizens, attracted by the school's 100-year heritage, its British-style
curriculum and the rare open grounds.
Boulos said Gibbons had asked a girl in the class to bring a teddy bear
to school to help focus the children on learning about animals and their
habitat. The 23 pupils were asked to offer names for the toy. Among the
eight suggestions were Abdullah, Hassan and Muhammad, one of the most
common names in Sudan. In a final vote, 20 pupils chose Muhammad, Boulos
said.
Each weekend a different child was allowed to take the toy home and
write about what they did with the bear. The diary entries were
collected in a book, featuring a bear on the cover and the label "My
name is Muhammad". Boulos said the book was now in the hands of police,
who had also interviewed one of the girls in Gibbons's class.
He said he had heard about the parents' complaints last week, and had
spoken to Gibbons. "I told her it was a highly sensitive thing to do.
But she was totally innocent, almost naive. She said: 'But it was the
children who chose the name Muhammad.' The sad thing is that she is a
brilliant teacher. She was perfect. Now it looks like we have lost her."
Outside the school yesterday morning, dusty trucks and battered yellow
taxis sped past the school gates along the city's bustling al-Kasr
Avenue towards the Blue Nile. Inside, students huddled in small groups
at the doors of empty classrooms discussing the arrest and waiting for
their parents to arrive in their Mercedes sedans and shiny Toyota
Corollas. In Boulos's office, the largely British and Sudanese staff met
for a crisis meeting with governors and the school's lawyers. They were
all agreed the incident had been blown out of proportion.
Khartoum's Bishop Ezekiel Kondo, who is also chairman of the school
council, said: "This is such a sensitive issue. I feel so sad that
something so small could be built up into something so big. I feel the
school is being targeted."
The school, he said, was currently caught up in a dispute with local
authorities over council tax. Other teachers suggested that some people
wanted to get their hands on the school grounds.
The Sudanese government has been determined to make the most of other
political scandals that have come its way, keen to deflect the flood of
criticism from the western world over Darfur and other troubled
territories. Ministers have queued up in recent weeks to express their
outrage over the Zoe's Ark scandal in neighbouring Chad, claiming the
children involved were actually from Darfur.
Inside Khartoum
Khartoum is both disarming and disconcerting. It is possible to be out
at midnight and feel completely safe, and marvel at the oil-fuelled
construction boom along the Nile. Yet it is also hard to escape the
feeling that someone in the state security system is always watching
you, and difficult to ignore the faint, yet constant, air of tension in
the city.
Much of the tension can be traced to ethnicity and religion, and the
20-year war between the north and south that ended in 2005.
Unlike in neighbouring capitals such as Addis Ababa and Asmara, there is
some degree of press freedom, and people talk openly about politics and
the faults of the government. But there is a clear line that cannot be
crossed. Anyone threatening the legitimacy of the ruling National
Congress party can expect to be dealt with severely. In its latest
annual report Amnesty International describes torture as "widespread,
and in some areas ... systematic". Detention without trial is common.
Human rights officials and aid organisations also have a tough time,
with the government extremely sensitive to external criticism.
Xan Rice