Sudan's president to meet with British delegation on pardon for jailed teacher

KHARTOUM, Sudan -- Sudan's president will meet a British delegation to discuss a possible pardon for a teacher imprisoned in Sudan for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad, a presidential spokesman said Sunday.

Two Muslim members of British Parliament, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi and Lord Nazir Ahmed, have been in Sudan for two days trying to set up a meeting with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. He is the only one who can pardon Gillian Gibbons, the 54-year-old British teacher who has been imprisoned since Thursday.

"The [Sudanese] president will meet the British delegation at 10:30 [a.m. today] at the presidential palace," Mahzoub Faidul said. "He will discuss the case and a possible pardon."

Al-Bashir's decision to sit down with the two politicians could be a breakthrough in the case.

Gibbons was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation for insulting Islam because she allowed her students to give a teddy bear the same name as Islam's revered prophet -- a violation under Sudan's Islamic Shariah law.

Concern for the teacher's safety grew Friday after thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and swords and beating drums, burned pictures of her and demanded her execution at a rally in Khartoum.

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

The British Embassy said they had not been officially notified about the meeting with al-Bashir. But spokesman Omar Daair said it would be "a positive development."