LIVERPOOL, England — Gillian Gibbons’ family gathered with beer, wine and flowers Monday, waiting to welcome home the British teacher jailed by Sudan for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad.
“It’s been a strange old week, very stressful and particularly bad for the family, but now she’s coming home, fingers crossed,” her son, John Gibbons, said after it was announced his mother had been pardoned and left Sudan.
Sudan’s ambassador in London, Khalid al-Mubarak, said he was “overjoyed” that Gibbons was pardoned by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, ending a case that set off an international outcry and angered many moderate Muslims.
“What has happened was a cultural misunderstanding, a minor one, and I hope she, her family and the British people won’t be affected by what has happened,” he said.
The envoy called a demonstration in Sudan’s capital on Friday in which some participants called for Gibbons’ execution “an argument from the fringe.”
Gibbons was freed after two Muslim members of Britain’s House of Lords met with al-Bashir and the teacher sent the president a statement saying she didn’t mean to offend anyone with her class project.
“I have a great respect for the Islamic religion and would not knowingly offend anyone,” Gibbons said in the statement.
She flew out of the country Monday evening, landing several hours later in Dubai. She was expected in London this morning.
Gibbons was arrested Nov. 25 and sentenced to 15 days in prison and deportation under Sudan’s Islamic Sharia law. She could have been punished with up to 40 lashes, six months in prison and a fine.
In the project, she had a student bring in a teddy bear, then asked her pupils to vote on a name for it. They chose Muhammad, a common name among Muslim men.
The trial was sparked when a school secretary complained to the Education Ministry that Gibbons aimed to insult Islam’s prophet.
