'Teddy Bear' Teacher May Be Freed

Gillian Gibbons, who had the temerity to grievously offend the delicate sensibilities of Muslims by allowing schoolchildren to name teddy bears after Mohammed, may be freed after all.

Expect mass rioting if this sensible decision is made.

A British teacher arrested for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad will probably be cleared and released soon, a spokesman for the Sudanese embassy in London said Tuesday.

Gillian Gibbons was arrested Sunday and faced possible charges of insulting religion - a crime punishable by up to 40 lashes. She was questioned by Sudanese authorities on Tuesday.

``The police is bound to investigate,'' embassy spokesman Khalid al Mubarak told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. ``I am pretty certain that this minute incident will be clarified very quickly and this teacher who has been helping us with the teaching of children will be safe and will be cleared.''

Asked about the potential punishments - six months imprisonment or 40 lashes - he said: ``My impression is that the whole thing could probably be settled amicably long before we reach stages like these ... Our relationship with Britain is so good that we wouldn't like such a minute event to be overblown.''

Gibbons was arrested after one of her pupils' parents complained, accusing her of naming the bear after Islam's prophet and founder. Muhammad is a common name among Muslim men, but giving the prophet's name to an animal would be seen as insulting by many Muslims.

What's more insulting is these people are so sensitive that this would becme an issue in the first place.