British parliamentarians in Sudan to try to win release of jailed teacher

KHARTOUM, Sudan -- Two British parliament members met officials in Sudan on Saturday to try to secure the release of a British teacher imprisoned for naming a teddy bear Muhammad and later said the Khartoum government wants to resolve the case.

Britain's Channel 4 News quoted the teacher, Gillian Gibbons, as saying in a statement from police custody that she was being treated well.

"I'm fine. I'm well," Channel 4 quoted Gibbons as saying. "I want people to know I've been well treated, and especially that I'm well fed. I've been given so many apples I feel I could set up my own stall. The guards are constantly asking if I have everything I need.

"The Sudanese people in general have been pleasant and very generous, and I've had nothing but good experiences during my four months here. I'm really sad to leave, and if I could go back to work tomorrow then I would."

Channel 4 said the statement came from Gibbons' legal team in Khartoum but her lawyer, Kamal al-Gizouli, said he was unaware of any such statement being put out.

Fiona Long, a Channel 4 News spokeswoman, said the program stood by the accuracy of its report.

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi and Lord Nazir Ahmed, both Muslim members of Parliament's upper house, had earlier visited Gibbons in prison for more than an hour.

"Gillian was surprisingly in good spirits considering the last seven days," Warsi, a Conservative, told Sky News.

Concern for Gibbons' safety was sparked Friday after thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and swords and beating drums, burned pictures of her and demanded her execution during a rally in the capital Khartoum.

"The Sudanese government [does] want to resolve this matter. ... [We] hope we can come to an amicable resolution soon," Warsi said after she and Ahmed met Sudanese officials.

A lawyer for Gibbons said President Omar al-Bashir could inform the visiting parliamentarians that he had pardoned the teacher.

Gibbons' lawyer Kamal al-Gizouli said Sudan's president could deliver news of a pardon when he meets the British visitors. But it was not immediately clear when they would meet.

"I would not be surprised if president of the republic will tell delegation we have dropped this charge," al-Gizouli told The Associated Press.

Gibbons, 54, was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in jail and deportation for insulting Islam by naming a teddy bear Muhammad -- the name of Islam's prophet. The naming was part of a class project for her 7-year-old students at a private school in Sudan.

Al-Gizouli said only the president has the power to lift Gibbons' 15-day sentence which runs until Dec. 9.

Gibbons was moved from the Omdurman women's prison to a secret location on Friday after the angry demonstrations against her.

There was no overt sign that the government organized the protest, but such a rally could not have taken place without at least official assent.

The teacher's conviction under Sudan's Islamic Sharia law shocked Britons, and the British government has said it was working with Sudan's regime to win her release.

Gibbons escaped harsher punishment that could have included up to 40 lashes, six months in prison and a fine. Her time in jail since her arrest Sunday counts toward the sentence.

During her trial, the weeping teacher said she had intended no harm. Her students, overwhelmingly Muslim, chose the name for the bear, and Muhammad is one of the most common names for men in the Arab world. Muslim scholars generally agree that intent is a key factor in determining if someone has violated Islamic rules against insulting the prophet.

But the case was caught up in the ideology that al-Bashir's Islamic regime has long instilled in Sudan, a mix of anti-colonialism, religious fundamentalism and a sense that the West is besieging Islam.

The uproar comes as the U.N. is accusing Sudan of dragging its feet on the deployment of peacekeepers in the western Sudanese Darfur region.

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Associated Press Writers Jill Lawless in London and Rob Harris in Liverpool, England contributed to this report.