UK Muslim peers arrive in Sudan

KHARTOUM - Two British Muslim peers arrived in Sudan early on Saturday on a personal mission to secure the early release of an English teacher convicted of insulting religion by letting her class name a teddy bear Mohammad.

Lord Ahmed, from the ruling Labour party, and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, an opposition Conservative, hope to meet Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to discuss the case of Gillian Gibbons, who was sentenced to 15 days in jail and deportation.

"They have arrived and they have a series of meetings lined up, including with the president," said a source close to the Sudanese government.

"An appeal from a fellow Muslim could have an impact," said the source, adding that the peers also hoped to visit Gibbons, a 54-year-old from Liverpool who began her seventh day in detention on Saturday.

Her lawyers and British embassy staff have refused to give details of her location after hundreds of Muslims took to the streets of the capital on Friday, many waving swords and green Islamic flags, calling for her death.

Gibbons' chief defence lawyer, Kamal al-Jazouli, said she was in a well-guarded location, separate from other prisoners.

"I have visited her yesterday and she has a good room with a good bed. They are bringing her everything she needs." He said he gave Gibbons only a brief description of the protests to keep her from worrying.

CONCERN FOR HER SAFETY

Al-Jazouli said he believed the peers' bid to obtain Gibbons' early release had a good chance of success. "I think it could work," he told Reuters.

"I think the Sudanese government must now be as concerned for her safety as the British government. There are so many factions and sects and the government cannot control them. It would be a nightmare for Sudan if anyone harmed her."

A British embassy spokesman said Lord Ahmed had flown into Sudan on a personal mission. "He is coming on his own initiative," said spokesman Omar Daair. "Any efforts in this case are welcome. We have offered to help in any way we can."

Personal appeals for clemency have worked in Sudan before. U.S. journalist Paul Salopek was arrested crossing the border from Chad to Sudan's war-torn Darfur region without a visa in August 2006 and charged with espionage and publishing false information.

He was released on "humanitarian grounds" a month later after New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson travelled to Sudan and held talks with President Bashir in Khartoum.

Gibbons let her seven-year-old pupils at Khartoum's private Unity High School pick their favourite name for a teddy bear as part of a project on animals in September. Twenty out of 23 of them chose Mohammad -- a popular boy's name in Sudan, as well as the name of Islam's Prophet.

Gibbons circulated a letter to parents, telling them that the children would be bringing the teddy bear home at weekends as part of the exercise. Two months later, a member of the school staff handed the letter to Sudan's ministry of education.

Gibbons was arrested on Sunday and charged on Wednesday with insulting religion, inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs -- charges punishable by up to 40 lashes, a year in prison or a fine. She was convicted late on Thursday of insulting religion.

Lawyers confirmed the days she had already spent in detention would count towards her sentence.