Sudan's President Pardons British Teacher Convicted of Insulting Islam

Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir has granted a pardon to British teacher Gillian Gibbons who had been sentenced to 15 days in jail for insulting Islam. (See prior posting.) Today's Times of London reports that Gibbons could be on a plane to Britain within a day, after serving 4 days of her sentence. The release came after lengthy talks between al-Bashir and two Muslim members of Britain's House of Lords, Lord Nazir Ahmed and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi. (AFP). The teacher had been serving her sentence in a bungalow in the suburbs of Khartoum usually reserved for high-ranking opposition leaders who are under arrest. Her lawyers had feared she would be held at the overcrowded Omdurman Women’s Prison.