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More signs of a backlash against Westerners?
I've been following the brewing scandal - and conviction - of the British teacher in Sudan who named a teddy bear in class after the Islamic prophet Muhammad. She was sentenced yesterday to 15 days in jail. I guess in some ways she should consider herself lucky, since a 6-month sentence and 40 lashes had also be considered.Now there's news today that that hundreds of demonstrators are protesting in the streets over her relatively soft sentence (from the Sudanese point of view). Luckily, the news is tempered by the possibility that most protesters were government employees ordered to demonstrate and that clerics around Khartoum have been quiet on calling for violence against this Brit.
I think in this case, it's fair to say the woman made an innocent mistake. She's 54 and teaches 7-year-olds, signs that she probably isn't on a crusade against Islam. The Sudanese also have a valid point - that she broke the law and must be punished. But it is pretty surprising how harsh the backlash has been. The question is whether this backlash was a singularity or does it fit in the broader scope of bashing the West. At the very least, let this be a lesson to backpackers to areas like these to watch out for cultural issues.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Eva Dec 2nd 2007 2:55PM
Most Muslim scholars I've seen interviewed on the subject are in agreement that the Sudanese courts do NOT have a valid point, because under sharia law intent is a decisive factor in any conviction for insulting religion. Since everyone - aside from a few crazies who are convinced that Ms. Gibbons is part of a global conspiracy - agrees that this was a mistake on her part, she should not have been convicted.
This isn't a case of Westerners trying to impose our values on the Sudan to protect a culturally-ignorant visitor - this is a case of the Sudanese government flouting even their own judicial traditions, for reasons of their own - reasons that I would assume are directly related to their ongoing propaganda campaign painting any possible foreign intervention in Darfur as neo-colonialism.
It's scary stuff. Thanks for posting about it.