Sudan could charge a British school teacher within 24 hours for insulting the Muslim Prophet Muhammad by naming a teddy bear, the deputy justice minister said on Wednesday, adding that she is being well treated.
”A criminal case has been opened against her and now the prosecution has started to take the required evidence. When they are finished, the case will be referred to the court,” Abdel Daim Zamrawi said.
”It will not take a long time. Maybe within 24 hours,” he said, in response to a question about when Gillian Gibbons could be charged.
The mother of two was on Wednesday spending a third day in custody after being arrested in Khartoum because parents complained that in allowing primary-school pupils to name a bear Mohammed, she was insulting the Muslim Prophet.
Zamrawi said she was being held in good conditions at a police station, where officials from the British embassy and her lawyer had visited, and any of her relatives would also be welcome.
”She is in a room and she has all the necessary things. She has seen her lawyer and is brought food. She has basic rights. For us, she is innocent until her guilt has been proved,” Zamrawi said.
If found guilty of article 125 of the penal code — publicly insulting or degrading any religion, its rites, beliefs and sacred items or humiliating its believers — Gibbons would face a maximum of six months in jail, 40 lashes and a fine. — Sapa-AFP