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.

Reply