Teddy Bears and Blasphemy
The English school teacher Gillian Gibbons has ten more days to serve of the jail sentence she received for allowing her class to name a teddy bear "Muhammad". Meanwhile, today in Khartoum, thousands of protestors have been calling for the 54-year-old to be shot. The incident with the teddy bear has clearly upset a great many people in Sudan, even though it appears to have been an innocent mistake by the teacher. But how should the UK government respond to the incarceration of one of its citizens overseas for the crime of giving a teddy bear a popular Muslim name? One possible response would be for David Milliband to exclude the Sudanese ambassador from the UK for the next ten days. But that would probably inflame the situation even further; and, given , just getting Mrs Gibbons home safely has got to be a more pressing priority.
Comments
A few months ago the UK surrendered to Iran when they kidnapped fifteen Royal Marines in Iraqi waters.
Now it has allowed its citizen to be incarcerated for an absurdity by Sudan.
What next, submission to Monaco? Don't even think about Brussels, they won a long long time ago...at Maastrict. What was it that the sun never set on? I seem to have forgotten it's been so long ago.
I bought a teddy for £10 and sold it on ebay for £20.
Muslim extremists are after me for making a prophet(profit geddit!) out of a teddy!
Ok...I'll get my coat...