KHARTOUM - Hundreds of Sudanese Muslims, waving green Islamic flags, took to the streets of Khartoum on Friday demanding death for the British teacher convicted of insulting Islam after her class named a teddy bear Mohammad.
"No one lives who insults the Prophet," the protesters chanted, a day after school teacher Gillian Gibbons, 54, was sentenced to 15 days in jail and deportation from Sudan.
In a bid to secure her early release, Lord Ahmed, a Muslim peer from Britain's ruling Labour party in the House of Lords upper house, left London on Friday.
He was accompanied by Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, from the opposition Conservative Party. They were invited to Khartoum by the Sudanese government.
At least 1,000 protesters shook their fists or waved banners or ceremonial swords and chanted religious and nationalist slogans after leaving Muslim Friday prayers. Banners called for "punishment" for Gibbons, and some protesters burned newspapers that contained pictures of the teacher.
Several hundred protesters made a brief stop at the closed but heavily guarded Unity High School, where Gibbons worked, but did not attempt to go inside. The school was guarded by five truckloads of police in riot gear.
The protesters marched from there to the British embassy where several hundred surrounded the ambassador's residence, chanting religious slogans. There were no reports of violence.
Gibbons was charged on Wednesday with insulting Islam, inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs because the class toy had been given the same name as the Muslim Prophet Mohammad.
Under Sudan's penal code, she could have faced 40 lashes, a fine or up to a year in jail. But Gibbons was convicted only of insulting religion.
