KHARTOUM - A British Muslim politician said on Saturday he had not given up hope of an early release for a British teacher jailed in Sudan for allowing her class to name a teddy Bear Mohammad.
But Lord Ahmed, a member of Britain's upper house of parliament, said there was a lot of pressure on the Sudanese authorities from religious groups not to show leniency to Gillian Gibbons, who has been convicted of insulting Islam.
Ahmed, from the ruling Labour party, and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, an opposition Conservative, met Gibbons, a 54-year-old from Liverpool sentenced to 15 days in jail and deportation, and said she seemed in good spirits.
The two peers are in Khartoum as part of an initiative by Muslim parliamentarians in Britain to secure Gibbons' release.
"There are lots of positive signs," Ahmed said.
"But the Sudanese government is under extreme pressure from those who demonstrated in the streets and those religious people who delivered strong sermons yesterday where they said they should rescind the 15 days and take her back to court," he told reporters.
"We are optimistic that there will be a positive outcome."
Gibbons' lawyers and British embassy staff have refused to give details of her location after hundreds of Muslims took to the streets of the capital on Friday, many waving swords and green Islamic flags, calling for her death.
Warsi said she and Ahmed had met Gibbons in a meeting room in Khartoum.
"She seemed to be in remarkably good spirits. She was very good humoured. I told her that she was on the international media scene and that was a lot to take in for a lady born in Sheffield. It was a bit of shock," Warsi said.
Ahmed said they hoped to meet Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in the next 24 hours.
MUSLIM APPEAL
