See also
- Freedom of religion in Sudan
- Innocence of Muslims
- Mariam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, sentenced to death for apostasy in Sudan
The Sudanese teddy bear blasphemy case concerns the 2007 arrest, trial, conviction, imprisonment, and subsequent release of British schoolteacher Gillian Gibbons, who taught children of middle-class Muslim and Christian families at Unity High School in Khartoum, Sudan. [1] She was convicted of insulting Islam by allowing her class of six-year-olds to name a teddy bear "Muhammad". [2]
Gillian Gibbons was born in 1953 and gained a Bachelor of Education degree from the C.F. Mott College of Education in Prescot in 1975 (the college closed in 1992). She later moved to Sudan for a teaching job in Unity High School.
In one class, she held an activity where a teddy bear was used as a teaching tool, asking six-year-old pupils to select a name for it. With possible names written on a list, a boy who bore the name Muhammad, inputted his own name on it. The class and the boy agreed to use the name Muhammad, on account with the name being a very common one. Gillian was later arrested for allegedly insulting Islam. [1] [3] [4]
While it was initially thought that the complaint had originated from a parent of one of the children at the school, the boy's own parents as well as those of the other pupils, and the teaching assistant, who was an adherent of Islam defended Gibbons. However, it was later revealed that an office assistant employed at the school, Sara Khawad, had filed the complaint and was the key witness for the prosecution. [5] Khawad was said to be angry with the school's head teacher. "I was used by the secretary to get at the school", Gibbons told The Guardian shortly after her release. [1]
Sudan's legal system is strongly influenced by sharia, which prohibits depictions of Muhammad and other prophets. [1] However, many Muslim organizations in other countries publicly condemned the Sudanese over their reactions, [6] as Gibbons did not set out to cause offence. [7] The chairman of the Unity School council, Ezikiel Kondo, indicated that he perceived ulterior motives in the affair: "The thing may be very simple, but they just may make it bigger. It's a kind of blackmail." [8]
On 25 November 2007, Gibbons was arrested, interrogated and then put in a cell at a local police station. [1] On 28 November, it was reported that she had been formally charged under Section 125 of the Sudanese Criminal Act, for "insulting religion, inciting hatred, sexual harassment, racism, prostitution and showing contempt for religious beliefs". [9] [10] This carries a maximum sentence of imprisonment, a fine, or 40 lashes. On 29 November 2007, Gibbons was found guilty of "insulting religion", one of the three counts against her, and was sentenced to 15 days' imprisonment and deportation. [2] The Muslim Council of Britain, an umbrella organization of British Muslim groups, including MPACUK [11] said the punishment was "completely unjustified" [12] and that it was "appalled", [13] and called on the Sudanese government to intervene. [14]
On 30 November, approximately 10,000 protesters took to the streets in Khartoum, [15] some of them waving swords and machetes, demanding Gibbons's execution after imams denounced her during Friday prayers. During the march, chants of "Shame, shame on the UK", "No tolerance – execution" and "Kill her, kill her by firing squad" were heard. Witnesses reported that government employees were involved in inciting the protests. [16] Gibbons was then moved to a secret location because of fears for her safety. [17]
In an attempt to push for the release of Gibbons, two British Muslim peers, Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi, visited Sudan with hopes of talking to the country's President Omar al-Bashir. [17]
While the two British politicians were meeting the President on 3 December, it was announced that Gibbons was to be released from prison having been granted a Presidential pardon. After eight days in prison, she was released into the care of the British embassy in Khartoum and then returned to Liverpool after issuing a written statement saying: "I have a great respect for the Islamic religion and would not knowingly offend anyone." [18] [19]
The school was closed until January 2008 for the safety of pupils and staff, as reprisals were feared. [4] [20]
Khartoum or Khartum is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 6,344,348, Khartoum's metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan.
Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the southeast, and South Sudan to the south. Sudan has a population of 50 million people as of 2024 and occupies 1,886,068 square kilometres, making it Africa's third-largest country by area and the third-largest by area in the Arab League. It was the largest country by area in Africa and the Arab League until the secession of South Sudan in 2011; since then both titles have been held by Algeria. Sudan's capital and most populous city is Khartoum.
The history of Sudan refers to the territory that today makes up Republic of the Sudan and the state of South Sudan, which became independent in 2011. The territory of Sudan is geographically part of a larger African region, also known by the term "Sudan". The term is derived from Arabic: بلاد السودان bilād as-sūdān, or "land of the black people", and has sometimes been used more widely referring to the Sahel belt of West and Central Africa.
Omdurman is a major city in Sudan. It is the second most populous city in the country, located in the State of Khartoum. Omdurman lies on the west bank of the River Nile, opposite and northwest of the capital city of Khartoum. It is on the Nile river and acts as an important road hub, with the Nile boosting transportation even further.
Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah bin Fahal was a Sudanese religious and political leader. In 1881, he claimed to be the Mahdi, and led a war against Egyptian rule in Sudan which culminated in a remarkable victory over them in the Siege of Khartoum. He created a vast Islamic state extending from the Red Sea to Central Africa, and founded a movement that remained influential in Sudan a century later.
Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir is a Sudanese former military officer and politician who served as Sudan's head of state under various titles from 1989 until 2019, when he was deposed in a coup d'état. He was subsequently incarcerated, tried and convicted on multiple corruption charges. He came to power in 1989 when, as a brigadier general in the Sudanese Army, he led a group of officers in a military coup that ousted the democratically elected government of prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi after it began negotiations with rebels in the south; he subsequently replaced President Ahmed al-Mirghani as head of state. He was elected three times as president in elections that have been under scrutiny for electoral fraud. In 1992, al-Bashir founded the National Congress Party, which remained the dominant political party in the country until 2019. In March 2009, al-Bashir became the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), for allegedly directing a campaign of mass killing, rape, and pillage against civilians in Darfur. On 11 February 2020, the Government of Sudan announced that it had agreed to hand over al-Bashir to the ICC for trial.
Hassan al-Turabi was a Sudanese politician and scholar. He was the alleged architect of the 1989 Sudanese military coup that overthrew Sadiq al-Mahdi and installed Omar al-Bashir as president. He has been called "one of the most influential figures in modern Sudanese politics" and a "longtime hard-line ideological leader". He was instrumental in institutionalizing Sharia in the northern part of the country and was frequently imprisoned in Sudan, but these "periods of detention" were "interspersed with periods of high political office".
Unity High School is an independent multi-denominational co-educational private school in Khartoum, Sudan, which uses the English language and provides a British-style education to children from 4 to 18 years of age. It opened as an all-girls school in 1902, and in its current form goes back to 1928. Unity High is situated in the center of Khartoum.
The 2006 Islamist demonstration outside the Embassy of Denmark in London took place on 3 February 2006, in response to controversy surrounding the publication of editorial cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005. The extremist UK-based Islamist groups al Ghurabaa and The Saviour Sect staged a controversial protest march from London Central Mosque near Marylebone Station to the Danish Embassy near Knightsbridge Underground station.
Sudanese literature consists of both oral as well as written works of fiction and nonfiction that were created during the cultural history of today's Republic of the Sudan. This includes the territory of what was once Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, the independent country's history since 1956 as well as its changing geographical scope in the 21st century.
The Sudanese Communist Party is a communist party in Sudan. Founded in 1946, it was a major force in Sudanese politics in the early post-independence years, and was one of the two most influential communist parties in the Arab world, the other being the Iraqi Communist Party.
The Mahdist War was a war between the Mahdist Sudanese, led by Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah, who had proclaimed himself the "Mahdi" of Islam, and the forces of the Khedivate of Egypt, initially, and later the forces of Britain. Eighteen years of war resulted in the creation of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1899–1956), a de jure condominium of the British Empire, and the Kingdom of Egypt, in which Britain had de facto control over Sudan. The Sudanese launched several unsuccessful invasions of their neighbours, expanding the scale of the conflict to include not only Britain and Egypt but also the Italian Empire, the Congo Free State and the Ethiopian Empire.
In Islam, blasphemy is impious utterance or action concerning God, but is broader than in normal English usage, including not only the mocking or vilifying of attributes of Islam but denying any of the fundamental beliefs of the religion. Examples include denying that the Quran was divinely revealed, the Prophethood of one of the Islamic prophets, insulting an angel, or maintaining God had a son.
Cultural schema theory is a cognitive theory that explains how people organize and process information about events and objects in their cultural environment. According to the theory, individuals rely on schemas, or mental frameworks, to understand and make sense of the world around them. These schemas are shaped by culture, and they help people to quickly and efficiently process information that is consistent with their cultural background. Cultural schemas can include knowledge about social roles, customs, and beliefs, as well as expectations about how people will behave in certain situations. The theory posits that cultural schemas are formed through repeated interactions and experiences within a particular cultural group, and that they guide behavior in familiar social situations. Cultural schemas are distinct from other schemas in that they are shared among members of a particular cultural group, as opposed to being unique to individuals.
Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein is a Sudanese Muslim, media worker and activist who came to international attention in July 2009, when she was prosecuted for wearing trousers. Her case became a cause célèbre, with organisations such as the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information and Amnesty International issuing statements in support.
Catherine Heseltine is a British activist. She was elected as the CEO of Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK, a Muslim pressure group that opposes Zionism and Islamophobia. She has appeared regularly in newspapers and on television discussing issues impacting the British Muslim community as well as encouraging British Muslims to get involved in mainstream politics and to engage with the community.
Mariam [Meriam] Yahia Ibrahim Ishag or Maryam Yaḥyā Ibrahīm Isḥaq is a Sudanese religious freedom activist and public speaker. Meriam Ibrahim was arrested during her second pregnancy for apostasy and gave birth to a girl in prison on 27 May 2014. Mariam Ibrahim's case is part of a wider problem of persecution of Christians in Sudan.
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The College of Fine and Applied Art in Khartoum is the only public art school in Sudan. Its predecessor was founded by the British administration in 1945 as School of Design in the former Gordon Memorial College. In 1951, it was incorporated into the Khartoum Technical Institute that became the Sudan University of Science and Technology (SUST) in 1971, and the school was renamed College of Fine and Applied Art.
The complainant was named as Sara Khawad, an office assistant at the school, who was the key prosecution witness
