Have you been following the story of the British teacher in Sudan sentenced to 15 days in prison (fortunately, spared the lash) for naming a teddy bear Mohamed? I have, especially since I have a niece teaching in a Muslim country. It almost seemed laughable, the idea that naming a stuffed animal can cause offense, except that the Sudanese authorities apparently weren't laughing.
It turns out there's more to the story. Mrs. Gibbons was held up as an example, not by raving throngs of backward Islamists, but by a government determined to get back in the good graces of one Osama bin Laden. (Who, by the way, is not only not dead but still alive, despite vows made to find him "dead or alive.")
Read the details here, of how Mrs. Gibbons became a scapegoat over a teddy bear.
