Because this has gotten lost in the noise

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

Lest we forget, there are still barbarians in the world. Riots over cartoons, 'honor' rapes...it just gets better and better...

 

Welcome to the 7th Century...

 

 

Sudan charges teacher for teddy bear name

By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU, Associated Press Writer

 

 

 

Sudan charged a British teacher Wednesday with inciting religious hatred after she allowed her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad, an offense that could subject her to 40 lashes, the Justice Ministry said.

 

The charge against Gillian Gibbons was sure to heighten tensions between Sudan and Britain. In London, Foreign Secretary David Miliband urgently summoned the Sudanese ambassador to discuss the case, the British government said.

 

Gibbons, 54, was arrested Sunday after some of her pupils' parents complained, accusing her of naming the bear after Islam's prophet. Muhammad is a common name among Muslim men, but giving the prophet's name to an animal would be seen as insulting by many Muslims.

 

Prosecutor General Salah Eddin Abu Zaid said Gibbons was charged under article 125 of the Sudanese legal code and her case would be referred to court Thursday.

 

If convicted, she faces up to 40 lashes, six months and prison and a fine, said Abdul Daem Zumrawi, the Justice Ministry's undersecretary.

 

"What will be applied is (at) the discretionary power of the judge to issue the verdict," he was quoted as saying by the official Sudanese News Agency.

 

The meeting between Miliband and Ambassador Omer Mohammed Ahmed Siddig would take place as soon as possible, according to the British Foreign Office.

 

"We are surprised and disappointed by this development and the Foreign Secretary will summon as a matter of urgency the Sudanese ambassador to discuss the matter further," said Michael Ellam, a spokesman for Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office.

 

Miliband would ask the "for the rationale behind the charges and a sense of what the next steps might be" amid an escalating diplomatic dispute in the case, he said.

 

"We will consider our response in the light of that," Ellam said.

 

The Gibbons family declined to speak with The Associated Press, saying the British government had advised them not to comment to the media.

 

In Khartoum, the British Embassy said diplomats had been allowed to visit Gibbons on Wednesday. "She said she was being well-treated and that she was OK," said embassy spokesman Omar Daair.

 

Gibbons was teaching her pupils, who are around age 7, about animals and asked one of them to bring in her teddy bear, said Robert Boulos, a spokesman for Unity High School in Khartoum. She asked the students to pick names for it and they proposed Abdullah, Hassan and Muhammad, and in September, the pupils voted to name it Muhammad, he said.

 

Each child was allowed to take the bear home on weekends and write a diary about what they did with it. The diary entries were collected in a book with the bear's picture on the cover, labeled, "My Name is Muhammad," he said. The bear itself was never labeled with the name, he added.

 

The Unity High School, a private English-language school with elementary to high school levels, was founded by Christian groups, but 90 percent of its students are Muslim, mostly from upper-class Sudanese families.

 

Several Sudanese newspapers ran a statement Tuesday reportedly from the school, saying the administration "offers an official apology to the students and their families and all Muslims for what came from an individual initiative." It said Gibbons had been "removed from her work at the school."

 

The Sudanese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday played down the significance of the case, calling it "isolated despite our condemnation and rejection of it."

 

Ministry spokesman Ali al-Sadeq said it was an incidence of a "teacher's misconduct against the Islamic faith" but noted the school's apology.

 

The statement from the school in newspapers called it a "misunderstanding." It underlined the school's "deep respect for the heavenly religions" and for the "beliefs of Muslims and their rituals."

 

Although Khartoum officials played down the case and said it was an isolated incident, Sudan's top clerics said in a statement Wednesday that the full measure of the law should be applied against Gibbons, calling the incident part of a broader Western "plot" against Islam.

 

Northern Sudan's legal system is based on Islam's Sharia law, which harshly punishes blasphemy. Any depiction of the prophet is forbidden in Islam, for fear it would provoke idolatry. Caricatures of Muhammad in some European media last year sparked riots in several Muslim countries.

 

The Sudanese clerics said this was blasphemy and believed it was intentional.

 

"What has happened was not haphazard or carried out of ignorance, but rather a calculated action and another ring in the circles of plotting against Islam," the Sudanese Assembly of the Ulemas said the statement.

 

"It is part of the campaign of the so-called war against terrorism and the intense media campaign against Islam," they said.

 

Although an earlier report had suggested that only one parent had complained, the clergy statement Wednesday said that several had complained.

 

There were widespread calls in Britain for Gibbons' release. The Muslim Council of Britain urged the Sudanese government to intervene.

[Marijn]

http://forums.viachicago.org/index.php?sho...c=32212&hl=

 

[/Analogman-mode]

[caliber66]

http://forums.viachicago.org/index.php?sho...c=32212&hl=

 

[/Analogman-mode]

The new thread is, ostensibly, because that thread is no longer about the story in the OP.

[embiggen]

I think his point is that the topic is no longer being discussed in the other thread.

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

http://forums.viachicago.org/index.php?sho...c=32212&hl=

 

[/Analogman-mode]

 

Test your reading comprehension...

 

I am aware of the other post...

 

I think the issue at hand is getting lost with the intellectual jousting in the other thread.

 

A Woman is going to be imprisoned and lashed 40 times for naming a Teddy Bear Mohammad.

 

Are you fucking kidding me?

 

Like I said...welcome to the 7th century.

[MattZ]

Hey Porkchop - maybe it didnt get lost in the noise. Maybe people were done discussing. Everyone agrees it is reprehensible. Not much to discuss when everyone agrees. But thanks for posting this a 3rd time.

[EL the Famous]

Hey Porkchop - maybe it didnt get lost in the noise. Maybe people were done discussing. Everyone agrees it is reprehensible. Not much to discuss when everyone agrees. But thanks for posting this a 3rd time.

 

Yep. i don't think one person in there said it was anything but reprehensible and the 'intellectual jousting' occuring in the other thread is all based around trying to comprehend why shit like this happens. does our conversation make it any less reprehensible? don't think so.

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

Yep. i don't think one person in there said it was anything but reprehensible and the 'intellectual jousting' occuring in the other thread is all based around trying to comprehend why shit like this happens. does our conversation make it any less reprehensible? don't think so.

 

 

sigh

[ZenLunatic]

Hard to believe things are like that there. I hope she gets off with no lashes.

 

I dont see why they are so protective of the name and if so, how come the teacher wasnt more aware of this fact. Was the teacher knowingly doing something? Is she more of an idiot or just innocently unaware?

[EL the Famous]

sigh

 

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

The Sudan needs more

 

and a lot less

 

[JUDE]

[Sir Stewart]

I still think this is wrong, no matter what you all say.

[Spawn's dad]

I need to go on record as having said that I'm against whipping. Unless it's my kid. In that case he probably deserved it.

[Duck-Billed Catechist]

I still think this is wrong, no matter what you all say.

[isadorah]

i find it interesting that the initial news reports of this said the offense was punishable with 3 month jail time and this new article now notes that it is 40 lashes and 6 months jail time. my hunch is that if she is convicted (which is extremely likely, remember the guy that got caned for graffiti in asia) she will never see the light of day again.

[tongue-tied]

why do bad things happen to good people?

[ZenLunatic]

why do bad things happen to good people?

 

same reason the sky is blue and the sun shines.

[M. (hristine]

15 days in jail and deportation.

 

Could have been much worse I reckon, considering the hardliners running the joint. I wonder how much cultural briefing occurs before these teachers begin working in areas like the Sudan.

[EL the Famous]

different light frequencies passing through the atmosphere?

 

15 days in jail and deportation.

 

Could have been much worse I reckon, considering the hardliners running the joint. I wonder how much cultural briefing occurs before these teachers begin working in areas like the Sudan.

 

i thought it was 40 lashes and 6 mos. in jail?

[Sir Stewart]

convicted! unfuckingbelievable!

 

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/11/29...ears/index.html

[M. (hristine]

There have been varying reports as this story has unfolded. Much like the evolution of scientific or religious belief.

[bjorn_skurj]

What? I said early on in the other thread that Sudan sucks and no one should ever go there and Muslims who follow Shariah scare the shit out of me.

[ZenLunatic]

15 days in jail and deportation.

 

Could have been much worse I reckon, considering the hardliners running the joint. I wonder how much cultural briefing occurs before these teachers begin working in areas like the Sudan.

 

 

I say its not that bad considering she was looking at 40 lashes and a year in prison. Glad there is no whipping involved. Deportation is a good thing, why would you stay after that happening. 15 days, psshhh.....

[Good Old Neon]

I imagine there was quite a bit of wrangling going on behind the scenes vis a vis the British and Sudanese governments. Had this story never reached the light of day, she would probably have been subjected to much, much worse