Sudan President Pardons British Teacher

From WaPo:

What Britain and Gibbons' supporters said was a misunderstanding over the teddy bear escalated into a diplomatic flap between London and Khartoum _ and the show of outrage in Sudan that puzzled many in the West.

Hard-line Muslim clerics here denounced Gibbons, saying she intentionally aimed to insult Islam. A day after her Thursday trial, several thousand Sudanese massed in central Khartoum to demand that Gibbons be executed.

Yeah, jail time and lashes were not good enough for the religion of pieces

Gillian Gibbons, jailed for more than a week, was freed after two Muslim members of Britain's House of Lords met with al-Bashir and the teacher sent the president a statement saying she didn't mean to offend anyone with her class project.

"I have a great respect for the Islamic religion and would not knowingly offend anyone," Gibbons said in the statement, which was released by al-Bashir's office and read to journalists by British Baroness Sayeeda Warsi.

"I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends, but I am very sorry that I will be unable to return to Sudan," Gibbons wrote.

Al-Bashir insisted Gibbons had a fair trial, in which she was convicted of insulting Islam's Prophet Muhammad, but the president agreed to pardon her during the meeting with the British delegation, said Ghazi Saladdin, a senior presidential adviser.

The 54-year-old Gibbons left the country Monday evening, British Embassy spokesman Omar Daair told The Associated Press. She was believed to be on an Emirates flight to Dubai that took off moments before Daair spoke and was expected in London on Tuesday morning.

She really lucked out on this one. I do not understand why anyone would want to go to these muslim countries with their radical sharia law.

Technorati Tags: islam, Sudan, Gillian Gibbons