Threatened with 40 lashes over a teddy bear.

I heard about this before they sentenced her to 15 days and were still pushing the lashing. OVER A TEDDY BEAR.

Sudan: Teddy Bear Hate Criminal Convicted

Thu, Nov 29, 2007 at 11:49:18 am PST

Gillian Gibbons, who perpetrated the heinous teddy bear of blasphemy on an unsuspecting Sudan, has been convicted of blasphemy, but will not face the lash for her crime.

KHARTOUM, Sudan - British teacher Gillian Gibbons has been convicted of inciting religious hatred for letting her pupils name a teddy bear Muhammad and sentenced to 15 days in prison and deportation from Sudan, one of her defense lawyers said Thursday.

“The judge found Gillian Gibbons guilty and sentenced her to 15 days jail and deportation,” said Ali Mohammed Hajab, a member of her defense team.

The director of the school employing Gibbons, however, noted that since she had already spent five days in prison, she would serve only 10 days.

“It’s a very fair verdict, she could have had six months and lashes and a fine, and she only got 15 days and deportation,” said Robert Boulos of the Unity High School, adding they would not appeal the decision.

And she wasn't even the one that named the silly bear:

The teacher, Gillian Gibbons, "was in tears" when she testified in court Thursday, a member of her defense team, Abdel-Khaliq Abdallah, told The Associated Press.

"She said that she never wanted to insult Islam" by allowing the children to name the stuffed toy Muhammad, a common name among Muslim men, the lawyer said, speaking outside the courtroom. Media were barred from the chamber...Gibbons had one of her 7-year-old students bring in a teddy bear, then asked the class to name it and they chose the name Muhammad.

Each student then took the teddy bear home to write a diary entry about it, and the entries were compiled into a book with the bear's picture on the cover, titled "My Name is Muhammad," Boulos said.

One question, if she was convicted of blasphemy doesn't that mean they consider Muhammad to be God? I fail to see how it is blasphemy if he wasn't. Not liking that he may have been compared to an animal (I seriously doubt any of the children thought that the bear was actually Muhammad) is not the same thing as blasphemy. Simply amazing.