MCB: Gibbons conviction was wrong

The moderate Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has saluted the release of Gillian Gibbons, saying it was an unambiguous mistake to convict her for insulting Islam in the first place.

Ms Gibbons was sentenced to spend two weeks in a Sudanese jail after parents at Unity High School complained she had disrespected Islam by allowing children in her class to name a teddy bear Muhammad.

Ms Gibbons, who is originally from Liverpool, went to live in the east African country this summer, eager to fulfil her dream of teaching abroad.

Commentators in the UK largely deplored the Sudanese court's guilty verdict last week, although some did suggest Ms Gibbons had been naïve of the sensitivities surrounding Islam's most sacred apostle.

But today, the MCB dismissed this contention, saying the conviction was wholly unfounded.

Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary general of the MCB, said: "There was clearly no intention on the part of the teacher to deliberately insult the Islamic faith.

"The children in Ms Gibbons' class and their parents have all testified as to her innocence in this matter. We are glad that this has finally been recognised."

Mr Bari insisted she should "never have been arrested in the first place" and encouraged both Muslim and non-Muslim Britons to welcome her home.

This temperate view was not shared by some in Sudan, however, as one imam told worshippers at Friday evening prayer that the sentence did not honestly reflect the insult Ms Gibbons had caused to Islam.

A contained protest took place on the streets of Khartoum on the same evening, although resistance following the release of Ms Gibbons appears to have been minimal.