Sudanese president pardons British teacher

Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir on Monday pardoned a British woman teacher jailed for 15 days for insulting religion by allowing her pupils to name a teddy bear after Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.

"She was pardoned thanks to the mediation of Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi. She will be released in about an hour," presidential advisor Mahjoub Fadl Badri told AFP.

Gillian Gibbons was sentenced on Thursday to 15 days in jail for insulting Islam to be followed by deportation.

Two British Muslim peers, Lord Nazir Ahmed and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi from the upper house of parliament were on Monday meeting Beshir at the Republican Palace after flying to Khartoum in order to secure a pardon.

Wearing a traditional white gown and turban, Beshir received the peers in a relaxed atmosphere at a plush room at the palace where reporters were briefly admitted.

The arrest and jail sentence of the 54-year-old mother of two sparked outrage in Britain and a diplomatic crisis between London and Khartoum, further straining relations already frayed over nearly five years of war in Darfur.

The British peers, who had been due to return home on Monday morning, delayed their departure at the last minute amid signs that their mission to secure Gibbons's release was gathering momentum.

"Some progress has been made. As a result of that progress and what we're hoping to achieve, we will not be leaving," Warsi told reporters late on Sunday.

Sudan enforces Islamic Sharia law in Khartoum, where alcohol is banned and most women dress modestly.

Thousands of people demonstrated on Friday after the main Muslim prayers in Khartoum, the conservative capital of the former British colony, against what they considered Gibbons's lenient sentence, with some calling for her death.

Sudan's Committee of Muslim scholars said in a statement in the local press that Gibbons should not be released early because she was handed such a light sentence.

Gibbons is said to have been well-treated during her incarceration, with the British peers giving an upbeat assessment after visiting her at the secret location where Sudanese officials say she was being held for her own safety.