Sudan pardons teddy bear teacher

KHARTOUM, Sudan (CNN) -- Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir pardoned a British teacher convicted of insulting religion, presidential palace sources said.

Gillian Gibbons is expected to be freed Monday afternoon, sources told Time magazine's Sam Dealey Monday.

She will then leave Khartoum on a flight later in the day, along with the two British lawmakers who arrived there Saturday to secure her release.

Gibbons, 54, was sentenced to 15 days in jail last Thursday for having allowed her students at a private school to name a teddy bear "Mohammed."

Without a pardon, she would have remained in jail another six days.

The pardon came following efforts by Nazir Ahmed and Sayeeda Warsi, Muslim members of the House of Lords, to persuade the Sudanese government that releasing Gibbons would create international goodwill toward their country.

Ahmed, who is a member of the House of Lords --the UK's upper parliamentary chamber, told CNN that Sudan's president was impressed that Gibbons intended no harm.

"This was an unfortunate, unintentional, innocent misunderstanding," Ahmed said.

He added: "I am very confident that the whole matter will be resolved within hours rather than days."

"Common sense has prevailed," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said. He added that Gibbons will be taken to the British embassy in Khartoum after "what must have been a difficult ordeal".

The efforts of Ahmed and Warsi had been complicated by pressure from hard-liners for Gibbons to serve out the last week of a 15-day sentence.

Some protesters called for her execution.

She has apologized to a faculty member offended by the toy's name, Dealey told CNN.

The members of Parliament met privately with Gibbons on Saturday, who told them she was being treated well, they said. Warsi told Dealey she was doing "remarkably."

Gibbons was cleared of charges of inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs, her lawyer, Ali Ajeb, said.

On Friday, hundreds of protesters, some waving ceremonial swords from trucks equipped with loudspeakers, gathered outside the presidential palace to denounce Gibbons.

Source: CNN.com