Obey the laws of the country you live in...its that simple. I think events have shown that muslims are very sensitive to any insult or perceived insult to their prophet and are willing to show the world just how much they care. If you want to exercise your freedom of speech do it, but be aware of the consequences. I would not be suprised if i incurred violence if i went to middle america and burned the american flag because living in america i know just how sensitive americans are about their flag. I dont disagree that these actions are barbaric by western standards but who says the goal of the muslims is to live up to western standards. They serve a purpose as a deterrent to anyone who wants do defame Islam publicly with impunity. DEAL WITH IT!!!!!!!!!

Jax, Long Island, US?NY

I really do not have to say anything, for the events speak for themselves. Some one was going to trial over a stuffed toy?

Charles Nickalopoulos, Jacksonville, Fl USA

What of these children who must (being educated in islam) know that it is insulting to a dead religous figure to be compared to an animal. Do these children need to be executed also? Where are their parents? Do they not need to be responseable? OH excuse me parents can't be responsable for their children! jJust their teachers must answer for the actions of their students after all they are the ones the parents are paying to teach them. I think .........Oh whats it matter what i think. But If they are going to try this teacher then ALL the students and parents should have been on trial also.

joe, china, tx

I have nothing agains Islam, but definately against people who deliberately manipulate uneducated population using every trick, teddy bears including, to raise hatred against Christianity. So, Christian ladies and gentlemen, here is yet another lesson for all of us. May be a slight change in attitude is in order? May be we need to stop being overly civilized in our reactions to their insults as well? (I am not talking about violence at all, I am talking about our perception).

Julia, Moscow, Russia

I am for the "right" on this one., I Where have the likes of Ms. Thatcher gone? This kind of irrational hate must eventually be confronted, Not appeased.
A Holmes
Las Vegas, USA

Al Holmes, Las Vegas, USA

Yep, spot on. Sudan portrays a nasty, deceitful, conniving so-called "religion". It makes it impossible for "moderates" (by which I do not mean the mealy mouthed apologists of the MCB, but the folks I know in Bradford), to claim Islam is a religion of peace.l

george edwards, beijing, China

Have a bit of sympathy Ripsnorter for Ms Gibbon's plight. She went there because she was really interested in the country. Many Britons have been to or a currently living in Sudan. Do you think Britain would have had an empire if it only stuck to its own shores in the past? As an ex-pat yourself you have chosen to live outside of Britain but in your case in a much 'safer' country than say Sudan, Afghanistan or Yemen for instance.

James, London, UK

Another wake up call. Religion is the cause of irrational thinking and hatred.
Many will argue that true Islam is good, or that Christianity is better, or that Hinduism is the way to go. Wake up and smell the coffee. Religion promotes ignorance. "God" does not make you a better person, you make yourself a better person.

It is time for us stop respecting and tolerating religions that have no respect or tolerance of others. Let's start having faith in ourselves. Let's stop heeding the Korans, the Bibles, and all these other "scriptures" that promote themselves as the word of "God" and have no proof of it. Let's go back to reason.

J.G., Cleveland,

Sad to say, Muslims are being led by extremists who have declared war on anything not Muslim. One example after another of their resolve and willingness to further the cause. It's time for people to wake up and fight back and show strength and backbone against the jihad and radicals and stop them before they cause further damage to our way of life. The west doesn't need to respond to a holy war with a holy war, we need to put these people who will cause us harm to a reality check. Muslims everywhere need to choose to practice their faith in peace, or die as a martyr. if they want to die as a martyr, we should get them to their destiny as quickly as possible and not let them spread their hatred . It's time to stop yielding to the bad guys of all types, and let common sense and work for the common good be the way of people everywhere. After all, isn't that what most religions tell us god wants for man?

L spry, Raleigh, NC

"Mrs Gibbons, 54, was sentenced yesterday to 15 days in prison followed by deportation...."
No doubt we can now look forward to see all Sudanese criminals bin British jails being deported at the end of their sentences??

Tony G, Houston, USA

I think the only howling wolves are the saavages crying out for Gillian's execution.

Talking of political points scoring, if the government rescued this woman by force then i think it would have huge support from everyone in the UK (except the odd latte-sipping-guardian reader) to the point that the donations scandal would be forgotten about.

Why both with diplomacy? I'd imagine Margaret Thatcher would have ordered a rescue bid using force by now. Totally ignoring diplomacy options with that 'silly little country'.

Ian, manchester, uk

President al-bashir seized power in 1989 from a democratically elected Prime Minister and then appointed himself Chief of the Armed Forces,of the State - yawn,yawn, we've heard it so many times before - Lenin -Mugabe - Castro -, genocide of inferior races within the regime, but the parallel between this goon and the recent one in Iraq is amazingly coincidental (except the latter didn't use so called "religion" as a political tool) and look how he ended up.
How much oil is there in the Sudan?
I think Mr Bush might just be in the process of sharpening his pencil to make up his Christmas list,and it wouldn't surprise me if old al - bashir was near the top of his list.

alan maddox, wirral, england

I have Muslim friends who are ashamed of their faith and would leave if they dared. I feel very sorry for them as it is a faith based on fear. They are horrified by terrorism and this silly teddy bear incident.
If that poor teacher is hurt or maimed then the anger in this country will be intense. Believe me, we have been sitting on a powder keg for too long and something is going to blow!!!! There is a huge undercurrent of suppressed anger in this land from people of all kinds and backgrounds.
I am sorry to say my once great respect for Islam has almost gone and I now regard it as medieval and barbaric and totally out of place in the 21st century when the survival of the world is going to depend on tolerance and co-operation. And my Muslim friends say more or less the same!!
Perhaps it is time that the place of Islam in the curriculum of our schools be reviewed.

alan williams, Northampton, England

I feel compelled to write and add my comments on the teddy bear saga

I just cant understand why a Great country like Britain has to put up with these kindsof things from this country. W e should stop all aid to them and throw the sudanese diplomatic corp, including the Ambassador out.

They do not have any freedoms or proper judicial/legal institutions that we enjoy, I have had enough of this country applying our moral standards to parts of the World which in turn do not have the same moral code and abusing either our people, generosity and goodwill and our government deals with them using kid gloves

Its time we got tougher and stopped bing a patsy for the world and that incidently applies to our own officials who allow widespread immigration into Britain

perhaps we should send teddy bears to the sudanese embassy as a protest

john, london,

There is little doubt that Gillian Gibbons teddy bear account is a political or social distraction. I am not knowledgeable about the view of the Teddy Bear in Sudan, but around most of the world the Teddy Bear is known as an icon, especially to children, representing Love, Compassion, Joy, and Comfort. As a Christian mother, I can think of no greater complimant that my seven year old would offer than to name his teddy bear , Jesus. What a wonderful association between all the the Teddy Bear is to a child, and the charateristics of the Saviour. Would not a Muslim mother feel the same way about the association her child makes with the charaterics of Teddy Bear and the loved and respected prohet Mohammed? Are these not traits that Mohammed portrayed as well?

Sarah Smith, Dallas , Texas

It may well have been an organised 'political' act by a minority, but I doubt that many people will be any more tolerant of Islam after this latest in a series of nonsensical, barbaric recent incidents.

I know I'm not. I suspect that the 'minority' holding extreme views are larger than apologists would like to think.

Mack, Manchester,

Had this woman beeen a teacher at a UK school and named a teddy bear after Mohammed, she could also have been put on trial under our laws against inciting hatred.

Thanks go to Sudan for holding up a mirror to us on the absurdity of laws that try to protect the sensitive against the possibility of hearing adverse opinions, or things that might loosely be interpreted as a supposed slight.

Steve Bergholt, Colchester,

What a bombastic comment about a trivial event. It has been really very stupid to call a teddy Mohammed in a Muslim country. The Sudanese goverment's decision is very moderate. The British teacher should be happy that she didn't fall in the hands of an irrational mob. There are more important occasions to call for the freedom of speech.

Dr. Rolf-Peter Lacher, Gammertingen, Germany

It was actually a very intelligent decision by the judge, albeit political. Give her enough time in jail to appease the hardliners and stave off unrest in his country and then deport her for her own safety. If he had let her free there very well could have been violence protests which he avoided. I respect how aptly he handled the matter. That said, you'd have to kill me before you sent me to jail over a teddy bear.

Dre Giles, Houston, TX, USA

"President Omar al-Bashir has been itching for a confrontation with Britain since the UK threatened sanctions against Khartoum if Darfur peace talks failed, Mrs Gibbons is a teacher at Unity High School, a school run by Christians that follows a British-style curriculum. It is a prominent reminder of Sudan's colonial past, making her a most tempting target."

Well done Mr Macintyre, you've hit the nail firmly on the head.
very well written article.

Mohammed, London, UK

All this focus on an innocent mistake. What about holding Sudan accountable for Darfur genocide? What religon finds that acceptable behavior?

Mr Euson, Manchester, USA

These people who are calling for the death of Gillian Gibbons because she "insulted Islam" are the same people who for the past 5 years have been complicit in the murder of more than 300,000 of their Muslim countrymen because of the color of their skin. Such hypocrisy is the real insult to Islam here.

Aaron Marks, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

What is it about Islam that it inspires such hatred and violence?!

Craig Hunter, Kingman, U.S.A

Why bring the bible into it? We know what a scapegoat is. This was a decision based on Islamic jurisprudence. Trying to get Christianity involved in this is a poor show.

Chris, manchester,

So what that she didn't mean to cause offence? Even if she had meant to cause offence, there is no excuse for such intolerance by any religion. Freedom of speech? Not possible in much of the muslim world. Shame on them.

Arthur, Oxford,

"The decision has little to do with theology and everything to do with the politics ...of Sudan"

In Islam the theology is integrally tied up with and often indivisible from the politics (especially where Sharia law in implemented as in the Sudan).

That is the problem with Islam throughout the world including (if you see the politics with a small 'p') the UK

The authors interpretation avoids facing the reality of Islam and is using Politics as a scapegoat

David Cartright, Birmingham,

What? How could she? Naming a teddy Mohamed indeed! That makes me so angry! I didn't have anything to get angry about, but now...Oh my goodness. C'mon Muslims of the world! It's time to unite and rise up against these teddy-bear naming infidels. How dare they name a teddy bear! They must be so morally corrupt to have to resort to teddy-naming. Quick! I must go prepare for a teddy-bear jihad! (just after I finish my toast - mmmm.... Marmite!)

Andrew Duncan, Godalming,

I have to agree McIntyre's categorisation of the left tying itself in knots to be 'culturally sensitive' and politically correct and with the right calling in the gunboats. You only have to go to the BBC have your say on this to see this illustrated in perfect clarity.

It is interesting that the BBC has only managed to publish just over 3,000 of 11,000 comments so far. I think it's because they are fearful of the political correctness of which comments get through and they are diligently censoring each comment. There was no such censorship last week with the database scandal. Then, they easily handled over 13,000 comments and published most of them.

I think the left in this country is too afraid of cultural and religious difference. If the left truly abscribes to freedom of speech and human rights, then by any standards this is an outrage. There are international legal mechanisms for dealing with this. Sudan is a pariah state and this behavior only serves to confirm it.

Nanci Hogan, Luton,

When the Sudanese mob has been placated by the imprisonment of this misfortunate woman,Gillian Gibbons, then all the diplomatic avenues for her release should be explored.Other Western teachers in Sudan should be very aware of the cultural/religious differences between Westerners and Moslem Africans and act accordingly or leave now.
Should Ms.Gibbons be harmed by any physical punishment then a concerted united EU withdrawal of investment and foreign aid should spur the Sudanese govt.into action.
The abhorrent punitive provisions of Sharia law should be ' a must inclusion' in any travellers package to countries which have adopted this barbaric code.
Finally all people of goodwill should bombard their nearest Sudanese embassy and their own MP's with protests about
this case and leave the Sudanese leadership in no doubt as to our revulsion at their treatment of Gillian Gibbons

Eddie Keane, Logan City, Qld Australia

When the angel Gabriel's revelations to the prophet Mohammed were written down I seriously doubt whether the correct rules for the naming of teddy bears were mentioned, although I am sure there are some religious idiots out there who will tell me otherwise.
The government of Sudan has done Islam, that most over-sensitive and insecure of religions at the best of times, a serious disservice.

Dave, slough,

I agree with most of this analysis, but would add that there is a component of spite and a desire to humiliate the British for Ondurman. But "the Right howling in outrage" is a churlish little sop to liberals, who, almost by definition are unable to take sides in anything, even their own nemesis. The time will come when you will have to take sides, Mr Macintyre - you may even feel outraged, as most of the decent (and not necessarily "Right") people of Britain have done.

But in playing to the Islamic Gallery, the Sudanese have thrown a sharp light onto the dirty corner of Islam that our MCB and their ilk have desperately been trying to pretend does not exist. Explain that away, Ken Livingstone.

Richard, Preston, UK

Good analysis, until it gets to UK reaction. In the good old days the British Government knew that our best defence was 'respect', and our enemies knew that if a British citizen was molested and used as a scapegoat there would be retribution. But the groveling, left appeasers (a much better description I think) have thrown away our heritage of respect and endangered us all. Right thinking people (as opposed to the Right) have of course been angered by this - and quite rightly so. The blame has gone on Islam, and Muslims are the ones who perhaps should have been 'howling' with outrage, as they are the biggest losers.

Miranda, Milton Keynes ,

Serves her right going to a job in these dirty little places. When you work in dumps like this you have to know the rules. Sudan- the number one failed state on this planet (official - see BBC web site) and that is with some severe competition. No sympathy for this silly woman - are there no teaching jobs in the civilised world?

Ripsnorter (ex-pat), Malaga, Spain

The Teddybears Nitpick?

Henry Percy, London, UK

Why is it merely the Right that has been howling in outrage? If it is only the Right, then bully for them. In fact, nobody has been howling, except perhaps in the vivid imagination of Macintyre. Perhaps he has wolves at the bottom of his garden.

IAN GIRVAN, DUNKERTON, SOMERSET

Spot-on analysis from Ben Macintyre, although a bit too overzealous in dismissing religion completely as a contributory factor. It's in the mix alright

Scott, Perth, UK