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September 5, 2008 9:03:35 PM CDT

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'Terrified' Teddy Bear Teacher Happy to Be Home

Posted Dec 4, 07 5:15 AM CST in World 

(Newser) – Safely home after a "terrifying" ordeal in a Sudanese jail for allowing a class Teddy bear to be named Muhammad, teacher Gillian Gibbons was delighted to be back with family today. "I went out there to have a bit of an adventure and I got more than I bargained for," quipped Gibbons, 54, as she landed at Heathrow Airport and thanked the two British Muslim peers who negotiated her pardon.

"I don't think anyone could have imagined it would have snowballed like this." Despite Sudanese protests calling for her whipping and even execution, the Liverpudlian said that until recent events she found the people "extremely kind and generous" and was sorry she had to leave. "I wouldn't like to put anyone off going to Sudan," she said.

Source Daily Telegraph (UK)

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Gillian Gibbons, center, the British teacher jailed in Sudan for letting her students name a teddy bear Muhammad as part of a writing project, sits with her son John, left, and her daughter Jessica, right,...   (Associated Press)
Gillian Gibbons, right, the British teacher jailed in Sudan for letting her students name a teddy bear Muhammad as part of a writing project, speaks with Lord Ahmed, left, one of the British Muslim peers...   (Associated Press)
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, left, and Lord Nazir Ahmed, two Muslim representatives from Britain's House of Lords, discuss the day's meetings with Sudanese officials Sunday, Dec. 2, 2007, in Khartoum as they...   (Associated Press)
Gillian Gibbons, center, the British teacher jailed in Sudan for letting her students name a teddy bear Muhammad as part of a writing project, hugs her son John, left, and her daughter Jessica, right,...   (Associated Press)
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Great Britain  • Sudan  • teddy bears  • Gillian Gibbons  • Muhammad



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