SUDAN:The British teacher jailed for eight days after her class named a teddy bear Muhammad last night flew out of Khartoum for London after being freed on the orders of the country's president.
Gillian Gibbons was handed to British officials within minutes of the pardon announcement at the Republican Palace in the Sudanese capital yesterday.
She was in "remarkably good spirits", Foreign Secretary, David Miliband said after speaking to the 54-year-old mother-of-two yesterday afternoon. He welcomed president Omar al-Bashir's decision to pardon her.
"She was a little overwhelmed by the amount of coverage she understood this case had received and proud of the way her family had stood up over the last week," Mr Miliband said.
He said that Ms Gibbons had displayed remarkable "steadfastness and good cheer" throughout her ordeal "I did say to her that it must have been very tough over the last week and she did say 'Well, it was prison but it wasn't too bad a prison' or words to that effect," he said.
Her release was greeted by a small student demonstration outside the British embassy but most of the city remained quiet.
Her pardon was secured by two British Muslim parliamentarians after a 45-minute meeting with the president. Lord Nazir Ahmed told waiting reporters: "As British Muslim parliamentarians, we, Baroness Warsi and myself, feel proud we have been able to secure Gillian Gibbons' release.
"We hope British aid to Sudan continues and relations between our two countries will not be damaged by this incident, in fact this should be a way to strengthen relations." British diplomats have privately warned that strained relations between the two countries could be further undermined by Ms Gibbons arrest.
She was sentenced to 15 days imprisonment at the end of a trial on Thursday, although she escaped 40 lashes. Her class had voted to name a teddy bear Muhammad but colleagues always insisted it had not been meant as an insult to Islam's holiest prophet.
In a statement read by the Tory peer Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Ms Gibbons apologised for any offence. "I have been in Sudan for only four months but I have enjoyed myself immensely. I have encountered nothing but kindness and generosity from the Sudanese people," she said. "I have great respect for the Islamic religion and would not knowingly offend anyone. I am sorry if I caused any distress."
Last week about 1,000 people mounted an angry demonstration calling for the former deputy headteacher from Liverpool to be executed. Fears for her safety meant she was held at a government villa rather than a regular women's prison.
The two peers flew to Khartoum on Saturday after being invited by a senior presidential adviser. They spent the weekend meeting officials and religious leaders laying the groundwork for a meeting with the president.
President Bashir, dressed in a flowing white jalabiya and traditional loose turban, greeted the British rescue mission and spent about 45 minutes in discussion.
Security was tight around the city to guard possible violence. Two police squad cars were parked outside Unity High School since the past week's events began.
Jacob Osman, who sells traditional medical herbs just outside its walls, said the matter was now closed for most Sudanese people. "There will be some demonstrations but not very big because she is a woman and because she has apologised," he said.
The only sign of anger was a couple of blocks away where about 40 students from Omdurman Islamic University assembled outside the razorwire of the British embassy. Some banged drums, clashed cymbals and chanted. But the demonstration was noisy rather than nasty.
"We are very angry that she is going home because it makes this look as if her crime was not important," said one student.