Faith Central: Sudan, justice and Islam

Gillian Gibbons, the British teacher who allowed her class to name their teddy bear Mohamed, has been sentenced to 15 days in jail followed by deportation from Sudan.

Her lawyers announced that Ms Gibbons was found guilty of insulting Islam. The 54-year-old former Liverpool primary school teacher had faced a maximum penalty of 40 lashes and a six-month jail sentence.

Tonight David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said he was "extremely disappointed" with the sentence and summoned Omer Siddig, the Sudanese ambassador to London, to the Foreign and Commnwealth Office (FCO) to make Britain's position clear.

"We are extremely disappointed that the charges against Gillian Gibbons were not dismissed," said Mr Miliband.

"As I said this morning our clear view is that this is an innocent misunderstanding by a dedicated teacher.

"Our priority now is to ensure Ms Gibbons welfare and we will continue to provide consular assistance to her.

"I have called in the Sudanese ambassador to explain this decision and discuss next steps."

Beyond summoning the ambassador the Government is not expected to take any further serious action.

The entire judicial process was completed within a single day with reporters and British consular officials banned from the courtroom. . After a short delay this morning, the case got under way in late afternoon.

Ms Gibbons has already spent five days in prison and is expected to serve out her sentence in the Omdurman women’s prison near Khartoum.

Robert Boulos, the director of the Unity High School that employed her, declared it “a very fair verdict”.

Times Recommends

• New York has lost its edge
• Copenhagen will fail – and quite right too
• More than 17,000 new underwater species found