COMMENTS SUSPENDED OWING TO PERSISTENT ABUSE
A British teacher was moved to a secret location in Sudan last night for her own safety after thousands of angry protesters called for her execution for insulting Islam.
Gillian Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool, was jailed for 15 days on Thursday and ordered to be deported after allowing her primary school class to name a teddy bear Mohammed.
A judge acquitted her of inciting religious hatred, sparing her the more serious punishment of 40 lashes.
Riot police were on high alert in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum as protesters, many wielding weapons, gathered outside the presidential palace after Friday prayers to demand a harsher sentence.
The rowdy scenes occurred as high-level diplomatic talks continued to try and reach a "swift resolution". It also emerged that a senior Labour peer has launched a private rescue mission in an attempt to secure Mrs Gibbons' early release.
Hordes of protesters burned newspapers containing pictures of Mrs Gibbons and chanted: "No-one lives who insults the prophet", "Shame, shame on the UK", and "No tolerance: Execution". Others demanded: "Kill her, kill her by firing squad".
The crowds did not believe that Mrs Gibbons's claim that she meant no offence to Islam.
One of the protesters, Yassin Mubarak, who was swathed in green and carrying a sword, said: "It is a premeditated action and this unbeliever thinks that she can fool us? What she did requires her life to be taken."
Several hundred protesters later converged at Unity High School where Mrs Gibbons taught. They chanted slogans outside the building, which was closed and under heavy security, before marching towards the nearby British Embassy where they were stopped two blocks away by riot police.
Mrs Gibbons's first reaction to her ordeal was last night described by her son. John Gibbons said: "One of the things my mum said today was that she doesn't want people using her and her case as something to stoke up resentment towards anyone, towards Sudanese people, towards Muslim people or whatever."
Mrs Gibbons, who was in charge of a class of seven-year-olds, was moved from the overcrowded Omdurman women's prison near Khartoum for her own safety, her lawyer Kamal al-Gizouli said, shortly after visiting her to discuss the verdict.
Another member of her legal team said yesterday's protests could not have happened without the consent of the Sudanese government.
Mrs Gibbons is now eight days away from being deported to the UK. She spent five days in prison after her arrest last Sunday before she was sentenced.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said British officials were pursuing diplomatic contacts in London and in Khartoum and continued to search "for a swift resolution". Consular staff visited Mrs Gibbons and she is in good health.
Officials said Lord Ahmed, a Muslim Labour peer, would travel to Sudan to try to secure her release and that the trip was a private initiative.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke to a member of Mrs Gibbons's family to convey his regret. A spokeswoman said: "He set out his concern and the fact that we were doing all we could to secure her release."
Yesterday, Dr Khalid al-Mubarak, based at the Sudanese embassy in London, blamed the Khartoum demonstrations on "hotheads".
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