Christmas with a Capital "C"

Happy Saint Andrew's Day

Pray for Gillian Gibbons

AP
Teacher hidden as Sudan mob urges death

By MOHAMED OSMAN, Associated Press Writer 29 minutes ago

KHARTOUM, Sudan - Thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and swords and beating drums, burned pictures of a British teacher Friday and demanded her execution for insulting Islam by letting her students name a teddy bear Muhammad.
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Sudan's Islamic government, which has long whipped up anti-Western, Muslim hard-line sentiment at home, was balancing between fueling outrage over the case of Gillian Gibbons and containing it.

The government does not want to seriously damage ties with Britain, but the show of anger underlines its stance that Sudanese oppose Western interference, lawyers and political foes said. The uproar comes as the U.N. is accusing Sudan of dragging its feet on the deployment of peacekeepers in the war-torn Darfur region.

Many in the protesting crowd shouted "Kill her! Kill her by firing squad!"

In response to the rally in central Khartoum, Gibbons was moved from the women's prison across the Nile in Oumdurman to a secret location, her chief lawyer Kamal al-Gizouli told the Associated Press. He said he visited her there to discuss her conviction Thursday on charges of insulting Islam.

The 54-year-old Gibbons, who was sentenced to 15 days in jail, spoke Friday with her son John and daughter Jessica in Britain by telephone.

"One of the things my mum said today was that I don't want any resentment towards Muslims," the son told AP. "She's holding up quite well."

Despite the fervor of the protest, the rest of Khartoum was quiet. The rally was far smaller than February 2006 protests held with government backing after European newspapers ran caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, suggesting popular anger over Gibbons did not run as deep.

In their mosque sermons Friday, several Muslim clerics harshly denounced Gibbons, saying she had intentionally insulted the prophet, but they not call for protests and said the punishment ordered by the court was sufficient.

The rest here.

These people are barbarians and tyrants.

From the New York Times:

BRITISH TEACHER FOUND GUILTY

NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov. 29 — The British teacher in Sudan who let her 7-year-old pupils name a class teddy bear Muhammad was found guilty on Thursday of insulting Islam and sentenced to 15 days in jail and deportation.

Okay, according to a Reuters news story, not only did she let the children name the bear Muhammad, she also had them pick 3 names and VOTE. Maybe the voting was the real crime. Plus the class included boys and girls. Do these barbarians allow 7 year old girls to be in classrooms with boys not related to them? I'm surprised they allow girls to even be in school.

But some people don't think the sentence was harsh enough:

Under Sudanese law, the teacher, Gillian Gibbons, could have spent six months in jail and been lashed 40 times.

“She got a very light punishment,” said Rabie A. Atti, a government spokesman. “Actually, it’s not much of a punishment at all. It should be considered a warning that such acts should not be repeated.”..........


Sudan’s relations with the West — especially Britain — are as strained as ever. Many developed countries are increasingly frustrated with what they consider stalling tactics by the Sudanese to delay the deployment of peacekeepers to Darfur, the troubled region of western Sudan.

Sudan, meanwhile, has accused the West of being anti-Islamic.

I sincerely hope we become very anti-Islamic or this madness will spread.

You can find anything on line.

Beowulf Aloud

You better not pout, you better not cry...

The Hogfather is coming to town.

Tonight, on Ion TV

Captain Yips is a Pratchett fan!

I find it interesting how many conservative/reasserters seem to be Pratchett fans. I've run across a number of them as I browse blogs and here's another.