Demonstrators wielding ceremonial swords took to the streets after Friday prayers in Sudan's desert capital to vent their anger at an English teacher jailed because her class named a Teddy bear Mohammed. A crowd of about 1,000 young men streamed out of mosques to gather outside Khartoum's presidential palace, later marching to the British Embassy and burning newspapers bearing images of 54-year-old Gillian Gibbons. The crowd demanded that the teacher be executed following her conviction on charges of blasphemy. Gibbons was sentenced to 15 days in prison; she had faced a maximum of 40 lashes or a year in prison under Sudan's legal code, which is based on British law but modified to include sharia punishments. Chanting, "Shame, shame on the U.K.," the demonstrators quickly turned on a handful of British reporters, who were forced to flee.


Gibbons' sentence also did not satisfy some clerics. Sheikh Abdul-Jalil al-Karuri, imam of Ash-Shahid mosque and an adviser to President Omar al-Bashir, said he was not surprised that people had decided to demonstrate over what he deemed a lenient sentence. "I was expecting more because this is a serious case and the court just gave her 15 days. She has done five already so she can leave any time soon," he said.
Sphere.Inline.search('sphereSideBar','http://time.com/') tiiQuigoWriteAd(755777, 1290689, 180, 200, -1); British officials are working behind the scenes to expedite the release of the former deputy head teacher, who remains behind bars. Riot police looked on as the protesters marched from the palace to Unity High School, where Gibbons had taught, and then on to the British embassy. But the demonstration was isolated, and most of Khartoum remained peaceful. Many Sudanese families spent the afternoon in the city's small parks along the Nile River as usual.

Teachers at Unity High have stood by their colleague, noting that the first complaint came only last week despite the fact that parents had been aware of the class bear's name since September.

we are educated and know better

so if you name your child Mohammed thats a blasphemy too right?

If a Christian, Jew or any follower of a religion based on the bible named their child Yahweh, Christ, God or similar it would be seen as blasphemy but its ok to called a Muslim child Mohamed but not a teddy bear?

seriously, what the fuck?

My thoughts exactly... a person is MUCH more likely to put the name to shame that a teddy.

Accused of sponsoring the killing and rape of hundreds of thousands of its own people in Darfur and then of blocking the peacekeepers who might protect them - barely a week passed without a threat of sanctions or a new UN resolution.

But thanks to the Gillian Gibbons saga, Sudan has managed to transform its public image from pariah state to something approaching a laughing stock.

If Khartoum was hoping to turn the teddy bear into a rallying point for Muslims across the Middle East it was quickly disappointed.

Condemnation of the British teacher's detention came in from around the world and from all religions - leaving the government looking for an escape strategy.

The arrest of Mrs Gibbons must have seemed like an easy opportunity to give their former colonial masters a bloody nose.

In practice, it appears to be the Sudanese president who has been left with a red face