Bear peer told to avoid trip

Gillian Gibbons worked as a teacher at the Unity School in Sudan.

Saturday, 08, Dec 2007 12:00

Labour peer Lord Ahmed reveals the Foreign Office tried to dissuade him from going to Sudan to help a teacher imprisoned over naming a toy Muhammad.

Gillian Gibbons had been sentenced to 15 days in prison by a court in the country over the naming of a teddy bear used in class. Authorities were angry that the toy had been named after the Prophet who is held in the highest regard in the Muslim faith.

The country's president only granted the teacher a pardon after Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi travelled to the African country to secure her release.

The member of the House of Lords told the BBC's Straight Talk with Andrew Neil that he called the foreign office as soon as he heard of Ms Gibbons' case being heard by a court.

He told the programme: "I got a telephone call at nine o'clock on Thursday night and I called the Foreign Office immediately and the response unit, actually, they advised me not to go."

He said he had to wait for a "very long time" for the go-ahead for the visit and eventually made his own arrangements.

The Labour peer added that the unofficial nature of the visit had enabled him to meet members of the Sudanese government as tensions between the two countries had led to poor ambassadorial ties.

Speaking about the trip, he said: "I think that it was a great success; Gillian was healthy, she was fit, she was in good form, we all together, all of us, worked together for her release."