A shameful end to a shameful incident.

The British schoolteacher jailed in Sudan for allowing her 7-year-old pupils to name a class teddy bear Muhammad was pardoned Monday by the Sudanese president and left for England later in the evening.

President Omar al-Bashir made the decision after meeting with two Muslim members of the House of Lords, the upper house of the British Parliament.

The British prime minister, Gordon Brown, said he was “delighted and relieved” at the news and that “common sense has prevailed.”

The teacher, Gillian Gibbons, was sentenced to 15 days in jail last week for insulting Islam and was to be released next Monday. Under Sudanese law, Ms. Gibbons could have received 40 lashes and been jailed for six months. On Friday, hundreds of Sudanese in Khartoum, the capital, protested what they considered a lenient punishment and called for her to be put to death.

British officials had been ratcheting up pressure on SudanÂ’s government to release Ms. Gibbons, 54, saying she had made an innocent mistake. Muhammad is one of the most common names in the Muslim world, but it is also the name of IslamÂ’s holy prophet.

Frankly, I find the whole incident shameful.

That an innocent action with no malicious intent was treated as a crime is shameful.

That crowds of outraged Muslims called for this woman's death is shameful.

That two Muslim peers traveled asked the Sudanese leader for a pardon is shameful -- they should have demanded an unconditional release and exoneration of Ms. Gibbons.

That Ms. Gibbosn accepted the pardon and its implication of wrongdoing is shameful.

That those who insist that non-Muslims conform to actions to Islamic law and sensibilities won again is shameful.

Posted by: Greg at 12:27 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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