muselman
Junior Member
:salam2:
Efforts to free British teacher Gillian Gibbons from Sudan appeared close to success last night after a mercy mission by two peers.
After a day of frantic shuttling around the capital Khartoum, Labour's Lord Ahmed and Conservative peer Baroness Warsi said they were "optimistic" Mrs Gibbons would be released and flown back to Britain by the end of the weekend.
But they warned that the Sudanese government was under intense pressure from hardliners not to back down.
The peers spent half an hour talking to Mrs Gibbons yesterday morning and reported her to be in "good spirits".
In comments relayed by her lawyer, Mrs Gibbons said: "I'm very grateful to all the people working on my behalf.
"I am in a calm place. I want people to know I've been well treated and especially that I'm well fed.
"I've been given so many apples I feel I could set up my own stall. I have no complaints. They give me everything I want.
"I will miss my pupils. I have a good relationship with them."
The peers' mission, which was independent-of diplomatic efforts by the Foreign Office, came amid growing alarm in Whitehall and in the more liberal reaches of Khartoum over reaction to Mrs Gibbons's case.
Mobs have taken to the streets brandishing swords and chanting: "Kill her, kill her."
The 54-year-old, who was sentenced to 15 days in jail for insulting Islam by letting her class call a teddy bear Mohammed, was visited by the peers where she is being held.
She has been kept out of the local prison for her own safety but her exact whereabouts are unclear.
The peers also held a series of meetings with British embassy officials, government ministers and the office of the Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, after which Lord Ahmed said there were "lots of positive signs" that her release could be imminent.
The delegation are hoping to meet the president, who has the power to pardon Mrs Gibbons, today.
Lord Ahmed said: "The president's adviser says that he wants this matter to be brought to a close as soon as possible."
But he warned that the Sudanese government was still "under extreme pressure from those who demonstrated in the streets and those religious people who delivered strong sermons saying they should...take her back to court".
Yesterday, Mrs Gibbons's children John, 23, and Jessica, 27, and her ex-husband Peter were waiting anxiously for news in Liverpool.
John, a marketing consultant, said Foreign Secretary David Miliband had contacted him on Friday evening to stress that he was doing "everything he could" to secure her release.
John Gibbons said he had no plans to visit his mother in Khartoum.
"I am not going because we hope the situation will be resolved sooner than later."
Mr Gibbons received a phone call from his mother on Friday night - the first time they had spoken since her arrest.
He said: "I have no idea where she is and she didn't tell me.
"I said to her, 'Hello mum. We miss you and love you.'
"I was tearful but she sounded strong and seemed to be bearing up under her ordeal.
"I was enormously relieved just to hear her voice and know that she seems to be well."
In a further sign of the growing furore over the case, a group of British Muslims, including Tooting MP Sadiq Khan, demonstrated outside the Sudanese embassy in London, chanting: "Let her go, let her go."
Baroness Warsi said Mrs Gibbons had been in "good spirits" during the meeting.
"I asked her how she was feeling and if she was eating well. She was in good humour, she was telling jokes."
Mrs Gibbons, who moved to Sudan in August, could have received up to 40 lashes, six months in prison and a fine if she had been convicted on a more serious charge of inciting religious hatred.
Her lawyer Kamal Gizouli said she was being detained in "a safe place, better than the prison, and by herself".
"It's not a prison," he said. "It's an office, like a small villa, with many security guards for her safety. It's a decent room."
Efforts to free British teacher Gillian Gibbons from Sudan appeared close to success last night after a mercy mission by two peers.
After a day of frantic shuttling around the capital Khartoum, Labour's Lord Ahmed and Conservative peer Baroness Warsi said they were "optimistic" Mrs Gibbons would be released and flown back to Britain by the end of the weekend.
But they warned that the Sudanese government was under intense pressure from hardliners not to back down.
The peers spent half an hour talking to Mrs Gibbons yesterday morning and reported her to be in "good spirits".
In comments relayed by her lawyer, Mrs Gibbons said: "I'm very grateful to all the people working on my behalf.
"I am in a calm place. I want people to know I've been well treated and especially that I'm well fed.
"I've been given so many apples I feel I could set up my own stall. I have no complaints. They give me everything I want.
"I will miss my pupils. I have a good relationship with them."
The peers' mission, which was independent-of diplomatic efforts by the Foreign Office, came amid growing alarm in Whitehall and in the more liberal reaches of Khartoum over reaction to Mrs Gibbons's case.
Mobs have taken to the streets brandishing swords and chanting: "Kill her, kill her."
The 54-year-old, who was sentenced to 15 days in jail for insulting Islam by letting her class call a teddy bear Mohammed, was visited by the peers where she is being held.
She has been kept out of the local prison for her own safety but her exact whereabouts are unclear.
The peers also held a series of meetings with British embassy officials, government ministers and the office of the Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, after which Lord Ahmed said there were "lots of positive signs" that her release could be imminent.
The delegation are hoping to meet the president, who has the power to pardon Mrs Gibbons, today.
Lord Ahmed said: "The president's adviser says that he wants this matter to be brought to a close as soon as possible."
But he warned that the Sudanese government was still "under extreme pressure from those who demonstrated in the streets and those religious people who delivered strong sermons saying they should...take her back to court".
Yesterday, Mrs Gibbons's children John, 23, and Jessica, 27, and her ex-husband Peter were waiting anxiously for news in Liverpool.
John, a marketing consultant, said Foreign Secretary David Miliband had contacted him on Friday evening to stress that he was doing "everything he could" to secure her release.
John Gibbons said he had no plans to visit his mother in Khartoum.
"I am not going because we hope the situation will be resolved sooner than later."
Mr Gibbons received a phone call from his mother on Friday night - the first time they had spoken since her arrest.
He said: "I have no idea where she is and she didn't tell me.
"I said to her, 'Hello mum. We miss you and love you.'
"I was tearful but she sounded strong and seemed to be bearing up under her ordeal.
"I was enormously relieved just to hear her voice and know that she seems to be well."
In a further sign of the growing furore over the case, a group of British Muslims, including Tooting MP Sadiq Khan, demonstrated outside the Sudanese embassy in London, chanting: "Let her go, let her go."
Baroness Warsi said Mrs Gibbons had been in "good spirits" during the meeting.
"I asked her how she was feeling and if she was eating well. She was in good humour, she was telling jokes."
Mrs Gibbons, who moved to Sudan in August, could have received up to 40 lashes, six months in prison and a fine if she had been convicted on a more serious charge of inciting religious hatred.
Her lawyer Kamal Gizouli said she was being detained in "a safe place, better than the prison, and by herself".
"It's not a prison," he said. "It's an office, like a small villa, with many security guards for her safety. It's a decent room."