Khartoum/London(DPA) : Protests erupted in the Sudanese capital Friday as thousands of demonstrators demanded death for a British teacher charged with blasphemy for allowing her students to name her teddy bear Mohammed.
The protestors poured out of mosques following Friday prayers, some carrying knives and clubs, just a day after Gillian Gibbons, 54, was sentenced to 15 days in prison rather than 40 lashes or a fine.
The throngs of people, gathered in Martyrs’ Square outside the presidential palace. BBC reported them as chanting “No tolerance – execution!” and “Kill her, kill her by firing squad!”
According to other media reports, the protesters were apparently unhappy with what they called was a lenient sentence, rather than 40 lashes or a fine for the offender as recommended in Sharia law.
Gibbons, who was arrested Sunday, said her act was not intended as an insult to the Prophet Muhammad. But her plea was rejected and she was charged with insulting religion, inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs.
In London, British Foreign Minister David Miliband called the incident an “innocent misunderstanding by a dedicated teacher” and expressed his “extreme disappointment” over the court ruling.
The Sudanese ambassador was summoned to the foreign office to explain the decision. Gibbons is to be deported from Sudan after she serves her sentence, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Inayat Bunglawala, spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, said Gibbons “should never have been arrested in the first place, let alone convicted of any crime”.
But hardline clerics claimed the incident was “a calculated action and another ring in the circles of plotting against Islam”.
“It is part of the campaign of the so-called war against terrorism and the intense media campaign against Islam,” the Sudanese Assembly of the Ulemas said in a statement.
Last year, caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in some European newspapers sparked riots in several Muslim countries and protests in Europe.