Jailed teacher prompts travel review

A British teacher travelling in Sudan was jailed recently, after she allowed her student's to name their teddy bear Mohammed. The event has led the Foreign Office to review the advice it gives travellers heading to Muslim states.

According to Minister Lord Malloch Brown, the government is currently re-formulating the advice it gives tourists "with regard to local laws and customs in all Muslim countries".

Whenever travelling, however, he advised that people always respect local customs, which echoes the advice currently posted on the British Embassy in Sudan's website. The website suggests that all visitors to the country "respect local traditions, customs, laws and religions at all times".

The 54-year-old teacher, Gillian Gibbons, served eight days of her 15 day sentence for insulting Islam and was released after being granted a presidential pardon from President Omar al-Bashir. The Liverpool resident returned to the UK immediately.

While the teacher was thanking two Muslim peers, Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi, who helped her to get released earlier, crowds of people took to the streets of Sudan's capital, Khartoum, demanding she receive a stricter punishment.


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Jennifer Jones Editorial


11/12/2007



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