British teacher jailed for 15 days in Sudan

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KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A British teacher accused of insulting Muslims after her class called a teddy bear Mohammad was found guilty and jailed for 15 days, a defence lawyer said on Thursday.

Gillian Gibbons, 54, was ordered to be deported after she had completed her sentence.

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WTF?!??!

I usually wont devote a second post once i have covered a story, but when my News ticker scrolled this one past me, i almost fell out of my chair.

15days!!!!

She got 15 days for naming, wait...allowing someone else to name a teddy bear Mohammad.

What about the boy who actually gave the bear the name. Surely he got the 40lashes.

Apparently not.

But i realized something, which we all should take heed to.

When you travel outside of your country, you are subject to the laws of the land in which your feet are resting. Fair and unfair are a matter of opinion and if you feel like you are being persecuted unfairly, there's not a lot you can do about it.

I am not saying that the teacher got what she deserved. i think the sentence is unjust, but being from the UK and working in Sudan, the responsibility rested on her to know the laws. There are some laws here in the US that even i dont know, but ignorance is not a defense. Can you tell an officer you didnt know the speed limit was 55mph when you were clocked doing 70mph? You can tell him, but you are still getting the ticket.

While in the military, i was fortunate enough to travel to an Muslim country, Turkey. Now Turkey are nowhere near the same type of country as Sudan, but we were instructed before arriving that we are subject to the laws of the land and to be careful what we say and do. We heard the story about a solider from another country, who defiled a landmark there. His crime? There was a statue of one there founding fathers, Ataturk i think his name is, riding a horse. Well the solider decided that the horse needed one more rider and proceeded to mount Ataturk's horse. A cop saw him and hauled his ignorant ass to jail. Now if i climbed a statue of George Washington on a horse, would i go to jail?

Probably not.

Gillian Gibbons has taught us all a lesson.

British teacher jailed for 15 days in Sudan