Sudan to Fill Open Seat on Human Rights Commission

MSNBC's headline for this story is "Teacher Quizzed Over Teddy Bear Name". Makes the whole thing sound silly.

Sudanese authorities began questioning a British teacher on Tuesday, one day after she was arrested for insulting Islam after her young students named a teddy bear "Mohammad."

No good deed goes unpunished. For those of you in the missionary business thinking that Khartoum would be a good place to teach, keep Ms. Gibbons in mind.

Gillian Gibbons, a 54-year-old teacher at the Unity High School in Khartoum, was arrested on Sunday after complaints from parents.

"She has been transferred for questioning," said one police official in the station where she was being held.

If convicted of insulting Islam, she could be sentenced to 40 lashes, six months in prison or a fine, lawyers said.

The punishment should definitely fit the crime.

Teachers at the school said Gibbons had asked her class of 7-year-olds to choose their favorite name for the teddy bear and 20 of the 23 had voted for Mohammad.

Unity director Robert Boulos had said the school would be closed until January because he was afraid of reprisals in mainly Muslim Khartoum.

Better that the kids remain ignorant like their parents.

In 2005 a Sudanese paper was closed for three months and its editor arrested for reprinting articles questioning the roots of the Prophet Mohammad, a move which prompted angry protests.

Al-Wifaq editor Mohamed Taha was later abducted from his home by armed men and beheaded.

Again, an entirely understandable response given the gravity of the situation. Ms. Gibbons, I'd catch a plane.

A British embassy official said Gibbons was in good spirits and school officials said they were optimistic she would be released.

Sudan's justice minister declined to immediately comment.

She's in good spirits because she's British, and the British embassy isn't going to let the Sudanese government touch her. I suspect the American and Aussie governments would have a thing or two to say if Sudan pushes it.

The Sudanese justice minister isn't talking because he's desperately seeking a way to spin this political nightmare as a defeat for Ms. Gibbons and the Brits. He has no interest in looking like he's soft on Muslim infractions and a pawn of the west. Tough spot to be in.