Teacher Faces 40 Lashes for Naming Class Teddy Bear 'Muhammad'
  • A British primary school teacher arrested in Sudan faces up to 40 lashes for blasphemy after letting her class of 7-year-olds name a teddy bear Muhammad.

    Gillian Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool, was arrested at at Khartoum's Unity High School yesterday, and accused of insulting the Prophet of Islam.

    Her colleagues said that they feared for her safety after reports that groups of young men had gathered outside the Khartoum police station where she was taken and were shouting death threats.

    The Unity school is a Christian-run but multi-racial and co-educational private school that is popular with Sudanese professionals and expatriate workers.

    Teachers at the school, in central Khartoum, a mile from the Nile River, said that Gibbons had made an innocent mistake by letting her pupils choose their favorite name for the toy as part of a school project.

    Under Sudan's Sharia law, blasphemy could attract a large fine, 40 lashes or a jail term of up to six months.


But, hey, I'm sure there are recent examples of Christians or Jews whipping teachers for blasphemy....riiiight?