Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Teddy Bear Teacher Tells Her Own Tale

Gibbons doesn't regret going to Sudan, blames herself for ordeal

By Katherine Thompson,  Newser Staff

Posted Dec 9, 2007 10:34 AM CST
Email

(Newser) – "I had no idea at all that I'd done something wrong," Gillian Gibbons tells the Guardian in an interview about her incarceration in Sudan for letting her class name a teddy bear Mohammed. But the teacher's ordeal hasn't soured her on Khartoum, which she calls a "wonderful place," and neither is Gibbons trying to bandy blame.

Though at times terrified that her guards would "come in and teach the blaspheming white woman a lesson," Gibbons stresses that she was never mistreated. "Ignorance of the law is no defense," Gibbons admits, though she also suggested that the uproar might have been avoided if it weren't for a whistleblowing secretary who wanted to make trouble for the school.

Lord Nazir Ahmed talks during a presser at the Sudanese Presidential palace following his meeting with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, not pictured, in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Dec. 3, 2007. Bashir agreed to pardon a British teacher jailed here after she allowed her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad. At...
Lord Nazir Ahmed talks during a presser at the Sudanese Presidential palace following his meeting with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, not pictured, in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Dec. 3, 2007. Bashir...   (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, sits with her son John and her daughter Jessica, shortly after arriving at London's Heathrow airport, Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2007. Gibbons, 54, jailed for more than...
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 and her daughter Jessica, shortly...   (Associated Press)
Gillian Gibbons, the British teacher jailed in Sudan for letting her students name a teddy bear Muhammad as part of a writing project, is seen shortly after arriving at London's Heathrow airport, Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2007. Gibbons, 54, jailed for more than a week, was freed Monday after two Muslim...
Gillian Gibbons, the British teacher jailed in Sudan for letting her students name a teddy bear Muhammad as part of a writing project, is seen shortly after arriving at London's Heathrow airport, Tuesday,...   (Associated Press)
A protester holding placards and a teddy bear sits outside the Sudanese Embassy in London, Saturday Dec. 1, 2007, to protest the 15 day prison term given to British school teacher Gillian Gibbons for calling a teddy bear Mohammed in a classroom in the Sudan.(AP PHOTO/Max Nash)
A protester holding placards and a teddy bear sits outside the Sudanese Embassy in London, Saturday Dec. 1, 2007, to protest the 15 day prison term given to British school teacher Gillian Gibbons for...   (Associated Press)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
To report an error on this story, notify our editors.
A snapshot of the day's best news stories.
 
COMMENTS
Be the first to comment on this story.

Opinion: Fundamentalists take the wrong lessons literally
Detroit Free Press

Baroness Warsi tells of her efforts to free Gibbons
Daily Mail (UK)

 
Islam • Sudan • Prophet Mohammed • teddy bears • Gillian Gibbons • Baroness Warsi • Nazir Ahmed

More Newser Stories

Teddy Teacher Spurs UK to Kill Own Blasphemy Law

Armed Mob Wants British Teacher Dead

'Terrified' Teddy Bear Teacher Happy to Be Home

Teddy Bear Teacher Goes Free

'Muhammad' Teddy Bear Teacher Wins Pardon
NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   Betty Confidential   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Fark   |   Timelines   |   The Frisky   |   Geek Sugar   |   NewsOne