Sudan frees British teacher in teddy bear row

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: CNN

KHARTOUM, Sudan (CNN) -- A British teacher in Sudan jailed over the naming of a teddy bear has been released from police custody, the British Embassy in Khartoum said, several hours after Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir pardoned her.

Gillian Gibbons, freed after Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir granted her a presidential pardon earlier Monday, apologized for any distress her actions may have caused.

"I have great respect for the Islamic religion and would not knowingly offend anyone and I am sorry if I caused any distress," Gibbons said, in a statement read out by Sayeeda Warsi, one of two Muslim lawmakers who traveled out to Sudan to secure her release.

Gibbons, 54, was sentenced to 15 days in jail last Thursday for having allowed her students at a private school to name a teddy bear "Mohammed." Without a pardon, she would have remained in jail another six days. She is expected to leave Sudan on a flight to England soon after the courts ruled she should be deported after completing her sentence, the spokesman said....

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/12/03/sudan.teacher/index.html

[Xipe Totec]

1. Good luck getting a substitute teacher nt