British teacher jailed over teddy bear leaves Sudan

By Opheera McDoom

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A British teacher jailed in Sudan for letting her students name a teddy bear Mohammad left Khartoum for Britain on Monday after winning a pardon.

Gillian Gibbons, sentenced on Thursday to 15 days in jail followed by deportation for insulting Islam, was pardoned after an appeal by two prominent British Muslims to Sudan's president for her early release.

They accompanied her as she left Khartoum airport, heavy with security after hundreds protested on Friday, demanding she be killed.

Gibbons apologized after the pardon announcement for any discomfort she had caused to the people of Sudan.

"I have been in Sudan for only four months but I have enjoyed myself immensely. I have encountered nothing but kindness and generosity from the Sudanese people," she said, in a statement read by British Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, one of the peers who met Bashir.

"I have great respect for the Islamic religion and would not knowingly offend anyone. I am sorry if I caused any distress."

Gibbons prompted a complaint after she let her pupils at Khartoum's private Unity High School pick their favorite name for a teddy bear as part of a project in September.

Twenty out of 23 of them chose Mohammad -- a popular boy's name in Sudan, as well as the name of Islam's Prophet.

The two British peers, Warsi and Lord Ahmed, had launched a private initiative to secure Gibbons' early release. They delayed their departure after President Omar Hassan al-Bashir confirmed a last-minute meeting, following a two-day wait.

The staff of Unity High School where Gibbons worked shouted gleefully when they heard the news of the pardon.

"Everybody is so happy, everyone is just laughing now," Robert Boulos, head of the school, told Reuters.

He said Gibbons would be welcome to rejoin the teaching staff if she wanted. Gibbons had been suspended following a school investigation into the affair.

BRITAIN WELCOMES RELEASE

Earlier, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose country has had poor relations with Sudan for several years mainly due to the conflict in Darfur, said he was "delighted and relieved" to hear that Gibbons would be released shortly.

Sudan's influential Council of Muslim Scholars had urged the government on Sunday not to pardon Gibbons, saying it would damage Khartoum's reputation among Muslims around the world.