Excerpt from Time.com:

 

It probably seemed like the most innocent of ideas to the newly arrived teacher from England, still settling into life in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. She asked her class of six and seven-year-olds to dress up and name a teddy bear, and keep a diary of his outings. She hoped it would provide material for projects for the rest of the year. And it might have, except for the name the children chose for their bear: Muhammad.

 

Now Gillian Gibbons, 54, is spending her second night in a Sudanese prison, accused of insulting Islam's Prophet. She faces a public lashing or up to six months in prison if found guilty on charges of blasphemy. And Unity High School — one of a number of exclusive British-run schools in the Sudanese capital — has been closed as staff fear reprisals from Islamic extremists. Robert Boulos, the school's director, said the incident had been blown out of all proportion, but added that the school would remain closed until January to let ill feelings blow over.

 

Read more: here

 

Excerpt from CNN.com:

 

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) -- A British teacher has been arrested in Sudan for allegedly insulting Islam by naming a teddy bear Mohammed, taken as a reference to Islam's prophet and founder, the Sudan Media Center says.

 

The teacher, who wrote the name on the bear, was being interrogated Monday, the semiofficial center said. She was arrested Sunday after the Ministry of Education filed a complaint, acting on behalf of a parent of one of her students.

 

Read more: here

 

Can you believe this?!

Any reasonable person traveling overseas should known that was a bad idea. If she was going overseas to learn and teach she should have taken more time to learn local customs and laws, and perhaps had at least a cursory understanding of how seriously they take Islam and its practices.

 

That being said she doesn't deserve to be "publicly lashed". But its their law not mine.

...Mohammed is a common name. Even I -- here in America -- know an Arab kid named Mohammed.

 

You can't possibly tell me that there are no children in Sudan with the name Mohammed. It's a COMMON NAME and in NO WAY was meant to reflect on Islam's prophet.

total crap no different than when i was in school if you wore certain colors you could get your butt kicked by gangs.Now instead it's religion and it's extremists.

Yeah it is ridiculous. Like Biscuit said, it is a common name. Actually it is the most common first name in the world.