The Teddy Bear Trial

The story has everything to galvanize the UK: Khartoum, a name resonant with British history; democracy mistaken for disrespect; cute kids; a beloved childhood toy; a middle-aged Liverpool schoolmarm; possibility of cruel punishment; love of learning.

Gillian Gibbons, a new teacher at an English school in Sudan’s capital, herself the mother of two, motivated her class by letting the 24 seven-year-olds vote on a name for the class teddy bear. Youngsters took the bear home in turn, writing about him in their personalized notebooks. Parents got a circular about the project. Ms. Gibbons even decorated each student’s notebook with the bear’s picture and name.

The problem: the kids voted to name the bear Mohammad. A parent heard about a teddy bear named Mohammad, took it as a religious insult, and denounced the teacher to the Sharia Court for disrespect of the Prophet and Islam. The teacher was arrested. The customary penalty: six months imprisonment and forty lashes.

After a week, the court ruled: 15 days imprisonment and banishment from Sudan. Sighs of relief. Two weeks in a Khartoum jail is no walk in Hyde Park, but it could have been worse. Foreign Office officials are working for an early release.

Here is what I haven’t heard:

1. What about the bear? Will he face exile or was he re-named and adopted by the class?

2. How many of those seven-year-olds in that class are boys who bear the given name or patronymic Mohammad (or Mahmoud), the most popular male name in the world?

3. Do the Sudanese judges know that Mohammad is now the second most popular name in Britain?

 

Image by Mike Licht. Name the bear yourself. No, not “Yusef”  .  .  .  . Nevermind.