The President of the Sudan announced that he has shown mercy and will pardon Gillian Gibbons, the teacher at the center of the Mohammad Teddy bear case.
To show just how out of touch the country is, Omar al-Bashir explained that the move would garner “international goodwill.” With people carrying swords in the street calling for her death and a legal system that criminally punishes teachers for names that their young children give stuffed animals, it is a bit late for goodwill. Nevertheless, with the major litigation over the teddy bear over, perhaps Omar al-Bashir can tackle that little issue of genocide and organized rape in Darfur.
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It is all petty politics set off by one person’s grudge.
The school secretary wanted to get rid of the teacher.
She was the one who complained. She succeeded in getting rid of the teacher.
The clerics got their 5 min of fame.
When the facts were explained to the president, he realised that the clerics had distorted the truth about this.
He granted the teacher full pardon.
The president is also smart enough to know that this stupidity almost cost him 215 million dollars worth of aid from Britain for next year.
All this stupidity caused by one person and her selfish petty grudge.
BTW – the children and their parents were not aware there was anything illegal. The parents themselves had been issued a letter about the project – which had been ongoing for a number of months – and they had agreed with it.
It seems to be a law that even the vast majority of Sudanese are not aware of.
And they do sell teddy bears in Sudan.
How many children in Sudan are now renaming their teddies out of fear? Very sad indeed when you consider the impact of it on the children.