'Muhammad' teddy teacher arrested

A British schoolteacher has been arrested in Sudan accused of insulting Islam's Prophet, after she allowed her pupils to name a teddy bear Muhammad.

Colleagues of Gillian Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool, said she made an "innocent mistake" by letting the six and seven-year-olds choose the name.

Ms Gibbons was arrested after several parents made complaints.
The BBC has learned the charge could lead to six months in jail, 40 lashes or a fine.
Officials from the British embassy in Khartoum are expected to visit Ms Gibbons in custody later.

The spokesman said the naming of the teddy happened months ago and was chosen by the children because it is a common name in the country.

The school has been closed until January for fear of reprisals.

Fellow teachers at Khartoum's Unity High School told Reuters news agency they feared for Ms Gibbons' safety after receiving reports that men had started gathering outside the police station where she was being held.

Mr Boulos said Ms Gibbons was following a British national curriculum course designed to teach young pupils about animals and this year's topic was the bear.

Ms Gibbons, who joined the school in August, asked a seven-year-old girl to bring in her teddy bear and asked the class to pick names for it, he said.

"They came up with eight names including Abdullah, Hassan and Muhammad," Mr Boulos said, adding that she then had the children vote on a name.

Twenty out of the 23 children chose Muhammad as their favourite name.

Mr Boulos said each child was then allowed to take the bear home at weekends and told to write a diary about what they did with it.

He said the children's entries were collected in a book with a picture of the bear on the cover and a message which read, "My name is Muhammad."

It is seen as an insult to Islam to attempt to make an image of the Prophet Muhammad.
Mr Boulos said Ms Gibbons was arrested on Sunday at her home inside the school premises after a number of parents complained to Sudan's Ministry of Education.

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This story goes on (and on). Here are my concerns:
... 40 Lashes? What is this... the middle ages?

1. Why did a girl bring in a teddy bear that was not already named?

2. Why was there only 1 teddy bear if the whole class was learning about bears?

3. What do they get out of bringing home a teddy bear for the weekend and writing what they did with it? How did this help them learn about teddy bears?

4. Did she really think that choosing between Muhammed, Abdallah, and Hussan was a good idea? What every happened to Smokey or Frazzle or some other non-ethnic name?

5. I still don't understand the purpose of this task, but then again, I'm not a first grade teacher. I can understand bringing in a teddy bear and everyone talking about it but not the taking it home on the weekends and all.

6. I may be crazy, but I don't think that naming the bear Muhammed really is a detrimental as arresting the teacher... so would this mean that every parent who named their kid Muhammed and wrote a book (photo album, story, journal) regarding their kid should be arrested? I really feel that this is totally blown out of proportion and people need to see the big picture...

7. Closing the school until January? This entire thing seems bizarre.

Then again, I know nothing about the laws so I could be totally out of line, but I think the extent to how "PC" the world has become, we all just need to tone it down a notch and offend everyone...