Sudan?

SeanW

I'm surprised there has been no mention of the teacher from England who went to Sudan to teach children, and was threatened with the death penalty for allowing a boy named Muhammed to name a teddy bear after himself.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/1201/gibbonsg.html

and it's having a knock on effect here in the West too with regard to self censorship and PC-ness.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22858873-5005961,00.html

This disapponts me, but is not surprising.

I guess it just goes to show that it's a waste of time to try to help some people. Between this and the business in Darfur (and Sudan's hosting of Al Quaeda in the 1990s) it looks like Sudan is firmly rooted in the Dark Ages.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

there's been about five hundred threads on loads of forums about this.... check out the islam forum, or Ah.

edanto

Yeah that's a crazy threat. What happenned to the idea of proportionality?! How widespread is that type of law?

Did this make the news because it's so unusual in Sudan or just because it was an English teacher?

SuperSean11

edanto wrote: »

Yeah that's a crazy threat. What happenned to the idea of proportionality?! How widespread is that type of law?

Did this make the news because it's so unusual in Sudan or just because it was an English teacher?

English teacher

TheVan

Sudan seems to be one of the most messed up places in the world at the moment. Between that and the Darfur genocide/war crimes/whatever you're calling it and their contribution to instability in the region, its a place that needs some intervention (hard or soft) from someone (preferably the UN).

Unfortunately that EU/UN force that was going to eastern Chad (EUFOR TCHAD) has now been postponed until January due to lack of aircraft but may never actually go because of the renewed fighting in Chad. This could have brought some semblance of stability to the area. Lets hope the politicians persevere with EUFOR.

edanto

So, they seem to have a punishment for blasphemy. Ah well, hate that. It seems brutally unfair.
From http://www.sudanvisiondaily.com

Sudan Believes British Teacher Case Will not Affect Diplomatic Relations
Posted on Sunday, December 02 @ 00:10:00 GMT by admin

By: Mona Al Bashir
Sudanese Foreign Ministry does not expect the British schoolteacher case to erupt into a diplomatic crisis between Khartoum and London, said the official spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Ali Alsadig.

The Sudanese authorities had sentence the British schoolteacher, Gillian Gibbons ,54, to 15 days in prison and expulsion from the country under charges of blasphemy after she named a teddy bear after the Prophet (pbuh), which incited the children's parents to raise the issue before the judicial authorities. Gibbons was consequently arrested and tried. She was, however, declared innocent of the charges of inciting hatred and insulting religious beliefs. If convicted, she could have faced a sentence of 40 lashes in addition to a longer prison term and a fine.

The incident triggered wide popular protests as demonstrators day before yesterday took to the streets following the Friday prayer, demanding execution of the British teacher and closure of the British Embassy.

Meanwhile, two Muslim members of the House of Lords, Lord Ahmed of the Labour Party and Baroness Warsi of the Conservative Party, arrived in Khartoum in private initiatives to release the schoolteacher. The British Foreign Office said it had discussed with Lord Ahmed the topic of his visit, stressing the private nature of that visit.

The protests are interesting in that the BBC lady in Khartuom noticed that most of the banners and placards at the protests were similar and preprinted, showing some group were planning the protests in advance, as opposed to spontaneous eruption of the masses on to the streets.

Who would gain from such protests? So, say it was the Immams that organised it. Why would they bother?

At least the state has processes in place to protect people from such anger. But SeanW, you said that "it's a waste of time to try to help some people". What do you mean by that?

LostinBlanch

Apparently the blasphemy laws are a legacy of the Brits. I heard that on a radio interview a couple of days ago (sorry can't remember where so no link).

As for who would benefit from the rentamob - hard line elements wanting to put pressure on the government for their own reasons, and not just some teddy bear.

SeanW

edanto wrote: »

At least the state has processes in place to protect people from such anger. But SeanW, you said that "it's a waste of time to try to help some people". What do you mean by that?

Well, in the 1990s Osama Bin Laden found a nice home in Sudan. Then we have events in Darfur, where the government might not be actively murdering and pillaging everything in Darfur, but they clearly oppose the Janjaweed militias in the same way that our government opposes developer-led planning.

Now we have a teacher working volunteer, 4000-odd miles from home, trying to bring some enlightenment to that sh1thole, and just because one of her students named a teddybear after himself, all hell breaks loose.

This is the thanks you get for trying to do something good for those people, she would have accomplished more sitting at home on the couch.

It's like the Danish cartoons Mark 2. DejaVu. In fact that was my first thought when I read about this "Oh boy, here we go again." This latest mess would suggest that Sudan is a bit like Afghanistan was before 2002.

edanto

Why are you tarring them all with the same brush? She didn't go there to help the religious nutjobs that are protesting, or indeed the parents that complained about it initially.

She went there to help the child and other children in the class. And fair play to her.

It's a pity that she got caught up in such a mess, but she'll be ok.

How can you say that she would have accomplished more on the couch?! Maybe this story will have an influence on moderate Sudanese - note in some articles it says that she has support in the country too.

And yes Sudan is a mess. But credit is due to Ms Gibbons for making a difference.

RedPlanet

SeanW wrote: »

It's like the Danish cartoons Mark 2. DejaVu.

It's not like the Danish cartoons at all.
She was in Sudan, they have the right and authority to make whatever laws they see fit. So long as those laws don't contradict international ones and their treaty obligations.

eoin5

Its just another clash of dogmas eating newstime. I agree its good to discuss these events in an attempt to understand one another but shouldnt the media spotlight be on something else other than teddybears.

djpbarry

SeanW wrote: »

Now we have a teacher working volunteer, 4000-odd miles from home, trying to bring some enlightenment to that sh1thole, and just because one of her students named a teddybear after himself, all hell breaks loose.

This is the thanks you get for trying to do something good for those people, she would have accomplished more sitting at home on the couch.

Ms Gibbons would appear to disagree:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7126316.stm

I was very sorry to leave Sudan.

I had a fabulous time there. It is a really lovely place and I managed to see some of the beautiful countryside while I was there.

The Sudanese people I found to be extremely kind and extremely generous, and until this happened to me I only had a good experience.